Ninjas and heroes
by MzDany
Summary: After Lothor’s attack on their schools, the Wind and Thunder Rangers thought they were the only ninjas left on earth. They were wrong… ShaneOC
1. Default Chapter

A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a 'Shane' story!

Timeline: A few months after the events of "Prelude to a storm"

**Ninjas and heroes  
****By Dany  
****PG-13**

Summary: After Lothor's attack on their schools, the Wind and Thunder Rangers thought they were the only ninjas left on earth. They were wrong…

The forested mountains of Blue Bay Harbor were a picture of peacefulness. A light breeze ruffled the leaves of the tall pine trees, and birds were chirping overhead. Two squirrels were chasing each other across the tree branches, chattering happily.

Suddenly the rodents stopped and froze, listening intently.

A sound had broken the serenity of the forest, faint at first, but approaching rapidly. A moment later, a leather-clad figure tore through the dense underbrush at breakneck speed, its boots barely making contact with the ground. The figure kept up that tempo for a few more yards, then stopped abruptly. Long blonde hair was flying as she whipped her head around. Tori stood rooted to the spot, her eyes scanning the area all around her, her ninja senses expanding to pick up any signs of her pursuer. _Where **was** he?_

With her heart pounding in her chest, she took several deep breaths, her body slowly calming down from the adrenalin rush of the chase. The run through the forest had been long and taxing, but now it seemed that she had finally shaken him.

Tori allowed herself a small, gleeful smile. _All right!_ After all these weeks of practice she had finally managed to outrun him.

She turned southward, intending to make her way back to Ninja Ops when something made her pause. She _felt_ more than _heard _the tiny sound coming from above; the slightest creaking of a tree branch. A millisecond later a shadow, equally dressed in black leather, came flying out of the tree tops. Tori reflexively twisted sideways to avoid a full body collision, but the figure still managed to grab hold of her shoulder, fingers digging into her jacket with a viselike grip. Tori was spun around, and the momentum flung her right into her pursuer's broad chest. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs, and the blonde ninja ended up on top of her assailant. She made no motion to get up; instead she heaved a deep sigh and looked down into a dark face lit up by a huge grin.

"How?" she demanded. "I was so sure I'd left you in the dust this time. How did you…?"

"Because you're so predictable," Shane replied, grin still firmly in place.

"I am not!" Tori retorted and punched him half-heartedly in the chest while she rolled off him.

"Ouch! Yes, you are." Shane sat up and rubbed his chest with a mock indignant look on his face. "Dude, I've been waiting here for you for like five minutes already." The Air ninja shrugged. "The last few times Sensei had us practice tracking, you've _always_ taken a southern route back to Ops, so I took a chance and waited here, where I thought you'd most likely show up. Turned out to be the right guess."

"Cheater," Tori mumbled under her breath as she rose and brushed the dirt from her uniform. Shane grinned and put a hand to his ear. "Excuse me? Did you say _leader_? Yup, that's me, all right."

"Leader in cheating, maybe," the Water ninja kept grumbling. She waited until Shane had gotten to his feet before she turned to him. "You know, I'm not _that_ predictable," she said. "Because there's something you weren't expecting."

Shane cocked an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"THIS!" In a flash, Tori brought up her hands, and Shane had no time to react before he was doused head to toe with twin geysers of water.

"Toriiii!" the Air ninja screeched, and Tori chuckled at the sight of a thoroughly drenched Shane shaking the water out of his hair. He fixed his eyes on her, a highly exasperated look on his face, and growled, "Oh, you're _so_ gonna get it now!"

Ninja discipline and proper tracking procedures were forgotten as Shane lunged at the Water ninja, and Tori's laughter echoed through the woods as the two friends chased each other past the ageless trees of the forest and towards the slope that led to the grounds of the Wind Ninja Academy.

With a mighty leap Tori broke through the grove and into the clearing of the perimeters of the school grounds…and Shane almost collided with her when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

It had been four months since Lothor's attack on the Wind Ninja Academy, and all that was left of the school now was strewn about the open training arenas in forms of scorched rocks, tree stumps and other rubble. But Tori was looking beyond the destruction, and when Shane followed her gaze he flinched; on the far side of the western training plaza, on a small hill, was Sensei's meditation pagoda – or what was left of it. And on the ground next to a stone pillar that once held the beautiful terracotta roof, sat a girl.

Even though they were separated by a distance of several dozen yards, Shane could see that her eyes behind the pair of small, wire-rimmed glasses she wore, were closed. Motionless, her back ramrod-straight, she sat in the typical meditative position of the Wind Academy, seemingly unaware of the sudden presence of the two other ninjas.

A slight breeze ruffled her dark blonde hair, which was neither straight nor curly and was falling in long, lazy waves down her back. Shane judged her to be about the same age as him and Tori, and the red trim on her black leather training uniform clearly marked her as an Air ninja, but he couldn't remember ever having seen her before. He squinted his eyes for a better look, but her face still remained completely unfamiliar to him. He was about to ask Tori about her, but the Water ninja took the words right out of his mouth as she turned to him. "Do you know her?" she asked, blonde eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Shane shook his head, as puzzled as she was. "How could she be here? I thought Lothor had…" he paused, clearly still loath to speak of the evil space ninja's cowardly ambush and kidnappings.

Tori peered at the girl intently. "You think this might be a trick from Lothor?" she asked, suspicion lacing her voice, and Shane shrugged.

"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out."

They shot each other another look before they both turned simultaneously and sprinted towards the pagoda.

_**Observations…**_

At the same time, on the bridge of his spaceship high above Blue Bay Harbor, Lothor slammed his fist into his communications console. "Zurgane!" he yelled. The robotic general reluctantly detached himself from the shadows of the farthest corner of the room, where he had been flirting with Mara and Kapri, and came to his master's side. "Sir?"

The evil space ninja pointed a gloved finger towards the wide-screen monitor which showed the blonde and the dark-skinned ninja approaching another black leather clad figure on the Wind school grounds. "You incompetent fool! You missed another one! Can't you do anything right?"

Lothor's nieces peeked over their uncle's shoulders, following the scene on the monitor with utmost curiosity.

"Sir, I could have sworn we captured all the ninjas during the attack," the robot spluttered. "It was such a meticulously planned…"

Lothor cut him off with one sharp stare. "If it had been as _meticulously _planned as you claim, then you would never have missed the other six in the first place!" he snapped. "Thanks to you, I've had to waste the past few months trying to figure out ways of getting rid of those meddling kids, and now _there's another one_!" He emphasized his annoyance with a laser beam from his wrist that missed the black general's head by an inch. Zurgane ducked and stayed down, raising his hands pleadingly. "Sir, I will beam down at once and retrieve the girl for you."

"No. With those two Rangers down there, the others won't be far off, especially since they are on school grounds. You'll only end up getting whipped again." Lothor shot Zurgane another death glare and the general had the good sense not to argue.

The masked ninja turned back to the screen. "For now we'll just keep monitoring them. Once the girl is alone and off the school grounds, we'll make our move and add her to my collection."

He balled his fists in frustration. "Why is it so hard to find good help these days?" he muttered, and Kapri obviously took this as a question directed at them.

"Maybe because you're paying less than minimum wage, Uncle?" she offered.

Lothor stared at his nieces with narrowed eyes. "And who are you all of a sudden? Representatives of the Evil Space Villain Union?" His gloved hand shot up. "OUT. All of you!"

Mara, Kapri and Zurgane scurried towards the exit, but Lothor's sharp voice held the general back. "Zurgane! You and your men will stand ready to move at my command. And for your own sake I hope that this one was the last ninja you missed."

The black robot bowed deeply and silently left the bridge.

**_Molly…_**

Shane and Tori were still a couple of yards away from the remnants of the pagoda when the girl's eyes suddenly flew open. Startled, she turned her head at the same time as she scrambled to her feet, automatically flying into the Air defensive stance, but only a moment later her eyes widened when she recognized the familiar uniforms. She lowered her fists and gaped at them as they came closer.

Shane saw her mouth open and the words _'Oh my god'_ drifted across the short distance. She seemed as genuinely surprised to see them as they had been just moments ago. An awkward moment followed in which the three ninjas stared at each other, then the girl's face suddenly lit up, and with a wordless exclamation she lunged at Tori and threw her arms around the Water ninja's neck. The hug seemed to help open the floodgates, for suddenly a stream of words emerged from her. "Ohmygod, I can't believe it, I thought I was the only one left, how did you guys manage to survive the attack, do you know what happened to the others and to all the buildings? How did…"

"Whoa, slow down," Tori said with a grin while she gently disentangled herself from the bear hug.

The girl's face took on a slightly embarrassed look and she took a step back. "Sorry, I'm just so happy to see you both. I didn't know whether anyone else…had made it." Her voice faltered a bit at the last few words, but she straightened up quickly, her eyes darting back and forth between Tori and Shane. "I'm Molly. Molly Taylor."

"I'm Shane, this is Tori," Shane introduced them, his gaze traveling from the girl's face to her uniform. "I'm sorry, but you are not familiar to me…"

"I joined the Academy only a few weeks before the attack," Molly explained. "I don't really know anyone, didn't get a chance to make any friends before…" She finished her sentence with a helpless gesture. Suddenly her eyes flickered back to Shane, taking in his still-wet hair and moist uniform. "Did you fall into the pond when you came through the waterfall?" she asked, referring to the holographic entrance portal.

Tori hid her smile behind her hand, and Shane threw the blonde ninja a dark glare.

"No, not exactly."

Molly regarded him for another moment with a puzzled look, then gave a mental shrug, deciding not to pursue the matter any further. There were more pressing questions to be answered.

"Do you know of any others who escaped?" Molly wanted to know, and Tori nodded.

"A few. An Earth ninja from our class, Dustin. Sensei Watanabe's son Cam, and two Thunder ninjas," she explained, and Molly cocked her head.

"Thunder ninjas?" she echoed, and Shane and Tori could empathize with the surprised look on her face. The relationship between the Wind and Thunder Academies had always been grudgingly tolerant at best. There had never been much love lost between the two schools.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said, "When I saw what had happened here, I went to search for the Thunder Academy to get help. I had never been there before, so it took me almost an entire day to find it." Her gaze dropped to the ground. "The destruction there was even worse than here."

"Yeah, we know," Shane muttered, his face drawn.

"So how did you escape L…" Tori caught herself just in time. "…the raid?"

"I wasn't here that day. I had been sick for two days, and the day I felt well enough to train again…" Molly's eyes traveled over the wrecked training plaza. "…I found all this here." She turned towards them. "What about you guys?"

Shane scratched his head, a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "We were late for class that day. Played good Samaritan and helped this old couple jumpstart their car."

"It's a good thing you did, too." Molly said. "That probably saved your lives."

"Maybe, but if we had been here we could have done something, helped prevent all this," Shane replied, unappeased.

"Or you'd be gone, vanished like the others," Molly whispered.

Tori later concluded that it was some sort of sisterly instinct at the look of misery on the Air ninja's face that made her reach out and put her arm around the girl.

"They're not dead," the Water ninja said, putting enough emphasis into her words for Molly to look up into Tori's face.

"How do you know?" she asked, not convinced.

Tori's brief hesitation, and the wary look that passed between her two fellow ninjas, was not lost on Molly, and suddenly she couldn't contain herself any longer.

"Please, if you know something that I don't….I need to know," she pleaded, alternating between addressing Tori and Shane. "My best friend Carmen, she's an Earth ninja, she was here the day of the attack and she's been gone without a trace ever since, just like everyone else. Up until you two showed up today, I haven't been able to find _anyone_!"

She swallowed heavily, eyes brimming. "This has been driving me crazy for the past four months."

Shane spoke up. "There's unfortunately not much we can tell you either," he said, and the moment the words were out of his mouth Molly knew it was a lie.

Tori must have seen the skeptical look on Molly's face, for she quickly took up where Shane had left off. "We have reason to believe that the students were kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" the girl echoed incredulously. "But who in the world would be powerful enough to abduct every teacher and student from not one but _two_ secret ninja academies? And what happened to all the buildings?"

Instead of an answer, there was _that_ look again, and Molly could almost hear the inner debate that went with that glance between the Water and the Air ninja.

Shane shook his head. "We don't know," he said, and before Molly could call him on this second lie, Tori intervened. "Why don't you tell us what _you_ know?" the blonde ninja inquired, and the evoked reaction was instantaneous.

The guarded expression came over Molly's face with the suddenness of a lightening strike. "Me? Nothing!" she said a little too quickly, then turned her head and gesticulated towards the debris-strewn training plaza. "I mean, there's obviously been some sort of major battle, because the signs of it are everywhere. But as far as any other information goes, I guess I know as much as you do."

The way she formulated that last sentence struck Shane as odd. Almost like a challenge…

Looking at her, he found there was a knowledge in the girl's scrutinizing gaze.

'_She knows we're not telling her all we know,'_ Shane concluded. But he also took in her defensive posture, the nervous flicker in her eyes, and then it suddenly hit him that she was probably holding out on them as much as they were holding out on her.

_But what could she possibly know that they didn't?_

The three ninjas looked at each other in a silent stalemate.

_Now what? _Shane awkwardly searched for words, then squared his shoulders and said, "Look, if we find out anything new, we'll call you, ok? What's your number?" He knew it was a weak thing to say, but it was the best thing he had to offer right now. And from the look on the girl's face, she was thinking the same thing as she shook her head.

"I don't have a cell phone, and my parents would be suspicious if I got calls from strangers." She waved towards the pagoda. "Just leave me a note here. I can't seem to stay away from this place for too long a time anyways."

Molly regarded them for a moment in the awkward silence that followed, and Shane couldn't help but notice that the earlier sparkle of hope in her celadon eyes had died. Then she suddenly cleared her throat. "Well, I should be going," she mumbled. "By now my parents are probably wondering where I am, so…see ya." She ended the sentence with a resigned shrug, gave them a nod good-bye and turned towards the once meticulously pebbled walkway that led from the pagoda towards the training grounds.

There was no spring in her step, and Shane felt a pang of guilt at the way her shoulders now stooped. Their mere presence seemed to have filled her with such hope at first, until they literally pulled the rug out from under her.

Shane threw Tori a quick glance before he sprinted after the girl. "Wait, hold up."

Molly stopped as Shane stepped into her view.

"Listen, if you ever want to talk…you can usually find one of us at Storm Chargers sports shop in the city. Dustin works there; he'll get in touch with us if we're not there."

Molly looked at him for a long moment before she nodded. "All right. Maybe I'll see you around, then." And with that he resumed her way down the slope, never looking back.

Tori appeared at Shane's right, and together they watched Molly walk towards the Academy's holographic entrance.

"Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?" Shane asked, and he sensed his blonde friend nodding beside him.

"That she's holding out on us? Yeah." They exchanged a silent glance.

"We better tell Sensei about her. Come on," Tori said. Shane nodded, gazing after the retreating figure of the girl a moment longer, then followed the Water ninja to the concealed entrance of Ninja Ops.

**_Reflections…_**

A little while later, less than a mile from the Wind Academy, on top of a high cliff overlooking the ocean, feet dangling over the edge, Molly Taylor stared out over the water. She didn't see the glistening surface of the ocean, however, for her mind was racing at light speed.

_Survivors! I'm not alone, I can't believe it! _

But her elation was short-lived; guilt made her hang her head at the lie she had told them_. 'My parents are probably wondering where I am.' _What a load of bull!

No one was wondering, no one was waiting. She could be gone for days and her mother would not lose a minute of her drug-induced sleep over it.

Molly forcefully locked any more thoughts of her family into the compartment of her mind designated just for that purpose and turned back to the encounter with the ninjas. At first her heart had soared at the sight of them, but that feeling had changed to downright frustration during their conversation, for the vibes she had received from the two Winds had been clear.

'They know more than they let on,' she thought grimly, 'and I can't even blame them.'

Molly was guilty of the same misdeed, but of course what she was holding back was quite a different thing. The question now was: Was she willing to exchange her knowledge for theirs?

A strained moan escaped her lips. She didn't want to share what she knew, but the need for possible answers about the ninja students' whereabouts was an almost physical ache in her chest.

_Carmen might be alive!_ Any information she could scrounge up on her best friend's whereabouts was worth paying just about any price, and if that meant revealing her secret...

She pulled up her legs, hugging her knees. The problem wasn't sharing _what_ she knew, but how she came about that knowledge. Hence the secret.

'Story of my life,' she thought, grimacing in dismay, 'I want answers from them, so I have to let them in on who I am. Or more precisely, _what_ I am. The freak that I am.'

As if on cue, a powerful vision blurred out the ocean view before her, replacing it with the smoldering remains of the Wind Academy's training plaza. The terrified screams of the ninja students vibrated through her head as clearly as if she had stood right in the midst of the chaos.

Which she hadn't. She had told the truth when she said that she had never even been close to the Academy that day. But that, of course, stopped neither the visions nor the voices or the overwhelming perceptions of fear and panic that channeled into her every time she pilgrimaged to the school grounds.

Images in form of visions, perceptions of people's feelings, as well as voices inside her head, was nothing new to Molly. It was something she had lived with her entire life, and while she would never be comfortable with them, she accepted them a long time ago as an inevitable byproduct of her life.

But just because she had grudgingly acknowledged herself as a freak of nature didn't mean she was happy about revealing herself as such to anyone, especially two strangers; that they were fellow ninjas didn't matter at all in this case.

She rubbed her temples. _God, I hate this!_

Seventeen years and counting, and even after all this time she still couldn't completely control all the random images that invaded her head at the strangest times.

Only one person had ever made an actual effort to bring order to her chaotic head: Sensei Kanoi Watanabe, who had sensed her mental potential when he noticed how easily she had managed to control the air element after just one lesson. He had taken it upon himself to teach her the meditative techniques necessary to focus her mind, but they hadn't gotten further than three lessons before the ambush happened. And now he was gone, just like all the others.

Molly shook her head fiercely, then concentrated on the blue ocean below her, shutting out the images and voices of the attack, as well as her grief over the disappearance of her teacher with a determined effort. But the vibrations of the screams still echoed through her head, slicing into her heart, and her conscience made up her mind for her at that moment.

No matter what kind of abomination the other Wind ninjas would perceive her to be after she was finished telling them about her visions, it was an almost bearable price to pay if it yielded some answers to the questions that had been haunting her for the past four months.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later, Dustin looked up from his spot behind the cash register at Storm Chargers when the front door chime sounded. A young woman entered, looking around searchingly.

He eyed her surreptitiously. Not a classic beauty, but certainly pretty enough. Her dark blonde ponytail was sticking out the back of a black baseball cap and she was dressed in jeans and a beige T-Shirt sporting the Nike emblem. Dustin made a silent bet with himself which brand of sportswear she would be checking out first, but he lost it when she went right past the clothing racks and made a beeline straight for him.

"Hi, I'm looking for Dustin," she said.

"Then you're looking in the right direction." Dustin grinned at her flirtatiously. "What can I do for ya?"

The girl looked nervous. "Uhm, Tori and Shane told me that I might find them here, or that you could contact them for me."

Now Dustin's grin turned to a full-blown smile. "Hey, you must be Molly." When the girl nodded, he hopped across the counter. "Yeah, they told me about you. Great to meet you." He extended his hand and Molly took it.

"Likewise. I'm glad that there are still some of us left," she said, and the smile she had put on wavered a bit.

"Yeah. Not many, but a few at least," the Earth ninja replied, then quickly pointed to a small alcove off to the side of the counter. "Tori isn't here right now, but Shane is. Come on."

They went towards the small niche where Shane was stretched out on the couch, surrounded by several school text books, eyes glued to the TV screen hanging from the ceiling in the corner. Without taking his gaze off whatever show was so obviously fascinating him, the Air ninja motioned with the remote control. "Man, you've got to see this reverse backflip this guy just did. Check it out, there's the slow motion…"

Dustin leaned towards Molly. "SuperSkaters Semi Finals. He'll never get his studies done on time." Then, in a louder voice, the Earth ninja said, "Maybe Molly can help you study, dude, since you seem to be having such a hard time focusing."

"Huh?" Shane turned his head and his face lit up at the sight of Molly standing next to Dustin, hands buried in her jeans pockets and a nervous smile on her face.

"Oh, hi!" he exclaimed and rose from the couch, taking care not to appear too eager and actually _jump_ up. Cool people didn't jump. Not even when they see the girl they hadn't been able to get out of their heads for the past two days.

Shane had been hoping Molly would show up here eventually. Their first encounter had ended too abruptly, and had left both him and Tori with the definite feeling that Molly hadn't been entirely truthful to them.

_Not that they had been, either, but…_

And later on Sensei had only added to the confusion.

They had gone straight to Ninja Ops to report the encounter to their teacher. Sensei Watanabe had been naturally curious about the escaped ninja up until Shane mentioned her name. At that, the guinea pig flinched noticeably, and his eyes opened so wide with surprise that Shane had been worried they would pop out of his head. Of course, Sensei being Sensei, he had recollected himself almost immediately, but had been clearly distracted for the rest of their conversation. Neither Tori nor Shane had wanted to appear too nosy, so they hadn't pressed the issue with their teacher, but it had left Shane's head buzzing with more questions than before. Questions only one other person could answer.

Thankfully, that person had just walked in the door.

"I was in the neighborhood…"Molly began, but the ensuing _'yeah, right' _grins she saw passing between Shane and Dustin made her pause. "All right, fine, so I wasn't," she conceded with a shrug and fixed her eyes on Shane. "Truth is, my mind's been in overdrive ever since I met you and Tori. I thought maybe we could talk."  
"Sure. Here, sit down." Shane gathered up some of the textbooks and tossed them onto the coffee table, catching Molly's inquisitive look at the titles in the process.

"English literature. Big test on the day after tomorrow. Blah." He wrinkled his nose and stuck out his tongue in mock disgust, and Molly couldn't help but laugh at the resulting face. She plopped down next to him on the couch, and Dustin settled onto the edge of the low table, facing them, curiosity plain on his face.

The girl came right to the point. "Look, I'm not good at this 'beating around the bush' stuff, so I'm gonna be honest with you." She fixed Shane with a pointed look. "I think it's pretty safe to say that neither of us has been straightforward with the other at that chance meeting on the school grounds. Am I right?"

Shane felt wedged between a rock and a hard place. Even though he sympathized very much with Molly's desire to find out as much as possible about the vanished ninjas, he simply couldn't divulge any information that would compromise the security of their secret Ranger identities. At first he also hadn't been convinced that she wasn't one of Lothor's minions, but the fact that Sensei obviously knew her was enough proof of trust for Shane.

Still, deciding just how much to tell her was going to be tricky. And since it involved evil ninjas, spaceships and alien monsters, he also couldn't rule out the possibility that she might just think they were all plain out crazy.

"Dustin! I need a hand here." Kelly's voice suddenly sounded from the main room, and with a sigh the brunet boy jumped up, holding his hands up to them. "Dudes, I'll be right back, ok? Don't start without me.  
"I really wanna hear _this_," he mumbled to himself as he sprinted towards the cash register to help out Kelly.

Molly and Shane were left to awkwardly look at each other in silence, until Dustin returned a minute later.

"Man, it's jumping in here today," the Earth ninja said apologetically. "But, hey, I get off in a few minutes. What do you say we ditch this place for somewhere where we can talk better?"

Shane looked at Molly. "Wanna grab a burger somewhere?"

She shrugged. "Fine with me."

Five minutes later, with a last wave to Kelly, the three of them were off.

**_Revelations…_**

"_An evil space ninja named Lothor?" _Molly coughed, almost choking on her milkshake.

They were seated at the food court of a nearby shopping mall, and Shane's head came up, his eyes automatically scanning the immediate area to see whether anyone had overheard Molly's exclamation. But all around them people went about their business, blissfully oblivious. No one even looked in their direction.

Shane let out the breath he had been holding and returned her disbelieving gaze intently. "Look, I know how crazy this must sound…"

With a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh, Molly looked towards Dustin for confirmation. The Earth ninja just nodded.

She shook her head incredulously and rubbed the bridge of her nose under her glasses, and the gesture reminded Shane vaguely of Cam. "Ok, let me just recap here…So you're saying this Luther…"

"Lothor."

"…Lothor, he and his goons have come to Earth from outer space, launched an attack on the Wind and Thunder Academies and is now holding all of the students and teachers captive on board his alien space ship? Trapped inside individual force field bubbles?"

Dustin nodded. "That about sums it up, yeah."

"Wow," was her only reply, but strangely enough, she didn't look half as perplexed as Shane and Dustin had expected. Then, suddenly, her posture relaxed and she leaned back into her chair, a small smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth.

"Man, that's a relief."

"Huh, relief?" Shane flashed Dustin a look. The bafflement on the brunet boy's face must have mirrored his own.

Molly nodded. "Yeah. This makes a lot of things so much easier now." She leaned forward again, fixing them both with an intense look. "Like telling you guys that…I already knew a lot of what you've just told me."

"Excuse me?" Shane's forehead wrinkled with bewilderment, and Molly took an audible breath before she continued.

"There are a few things you don't know about me. You see, all my life I've been able to…sense things in people. Feelings, moods, emotions."

"You mean, like…psychic?" Dustin asked, an intrigued look on his face.

"Yes, kinda like that. Only that I can't read people's minds or anything of that sort. I just pick up on their…psychic energies." Molly cast them another careful glance, gauging their reactions. "I never really knew what was wrong with me until I joined the academy, and Sensei Watanabe picked up on my, well, _abilities_, I guess you can call them. He was the first one to explain this whole psychic energy concept to me." Molly's eyes took on a faraway look until she apparently realized she was veering off the topic. She straightened up, refocusing. "And since the attack I have had these visions every time I get even close to the school grounds, because the residual psychic energies of all the students and teachers are still so strong there. I see these strange creatures shooting laser beams at the ninja students. There are explosions everywhere, and then…there's _him_." She shuddered visibly.

"Scary-looking dude in a leather mask and a long, kinda cool-looking black coat?" Dustin elaborated.

She nodded wordlessly, not even surprised anymore.

"Lothor," Shane confirmed grimly.

Molly stared into her milkshake. "After all these months, the creep finally has a name," she mumbled mainly to herself. But then her head suddenly jerked up and she fixed them with a narrow-eyed look. "How do _you_ know all this anyways?"

Dustin shrugged nonchalantly. "Cam, Sensei Watanabe's son, told us. We got to the academy shortly after the attack and found him half-buried under some rubble. He saw the whole thing."

Molly was still skeptical. "But how would he know the name of the attackers' leader?"

"Actually, that we found out ourselves," Shane picked up the thread. "We fought Lothor a few times since the attack while trying to find out where the kidnapped ninjas were."

Molly's eyes grew wide. "You're kidding, right?"

The two young men shook their heads almost simultaneously. "I wish," Shane said, "We figured that the best way to find out what happened to the schools was to ask Lothor himself, so we kinda lured him back to Earth from his spaceship." Shane was hoping Molly wouldn't think to ask how they had done that, so he continued quickly, "Obviously we weren't able to get the ninjas back yet, but we found out a lot of stuff during those fights. The guy likes to brag, you know."

"But why would you do something so reckless?" Molly exclaimed. "You could have gotten killed. This guy is dangerous! Let the Power Rangers take care of him and his monsters."

Out of the corner of her eye, Molly caught the glance Dustin threw at Shane, but Shane seemed to deliberately ignore him. What Molly couldn't ignore, however, was the vibe of apprehension she suddenly perceived from the brunet boy at her mention of the Power Rangers. Shane leaned forward with an unreadable look on his face, placing his elbows on the table firmly. "The Power Rangers are doing a good job keeping the monsters out of Blue Bay Harbor, but we have our own agenda, and for that we need to get close to Lothor ourselves."

"Well, so why not work together with the Rangers?" Molly suggested.

Both young men were quiet for a moment, and the apprehensive vibes around them were almost tangible now.

"This is ninja business," Shane said simply, and there was a finality in his voice that told Molly that any further discussions of this subject would pretty much be fruitless. She sighed. "All right, fine. But I want in," she said determinedly, then held up her hand to stifle Shane's protest before he could voice it. "Stow it, Shane. As an Air ninja, I have an obligation to my school, not to mention that I have as much reason as you guys to want to see the ninjas back here safe and sound. Carmen, my best friend, is stuck inside some bubble on a UFO, and if I can help in any way to get her back, I will."

Her tone was now as final as Shane's had been, and the boys apparently got the hint.

"So how are you planning on freeing the students from this space ship, then?" she asked.

At this, Shane hesitated, his mouth moving silently, while Dustin coughed and scratched at the back of his neck.

_They don't have a clue_, Molly realized with a start. A notion Shane confirmed a moment later. "Uhm, we don't know yet, but we're working on it."

"But we're open to suggestions, if you have any," Dustin said, and now it was Molly's turn to look slightly sheepish.

"Ah, let me digest all the info here first, ok? Get used to this situation. I mean, even though I had those visions for months now, it's still kinda unsettling to suddenly have all this weirdness confirmed.  
"Even for someone as strange as me," she added with a supposedly casual shrug.

Shane's reaction was instantaneous. "I don't think you're strange," he said resolutely.

"Yeah, me neither," Dustin was quick to agree, and Molly gave them both a grateful smile.

"Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor," Dustin conspiratorially leaned closer to her. "You see, there's this motocross race that I've signed up for next weekend, and maybe you could tell me who's winning…"

"Dustin!" came Shane's appalled cry.

"What? I just want to know whether I have a shot at it, that's all!" Dustin defended himself, a smug grin on his face.

Molly laughed. "Sorry, Dustin, but the visions don't work that way. I'm not clairvoyant."

The Earth ninja shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh well, it was worth a try." Then he glanced at his watch and ran a hand through his curls. "Oh man, speaking of moto…I gotta go. I'm meeting Blake and Hunter at the track." He leapt up from his chair, grabbed his backpack and patted Molly's shoulder in a gesture of goodbye. "I'll see you guys later, ok?"

After a quick rapping of knuckles with Shane, he was gone. Shane looked at Molly's furrowed brows and was pretty sure he knew what she was thinking.

"Blake and Hunter are the Thunder ninjas," he explained. "They're motocross nuts, just like him." He jerked his head into the direction Dustin had disappeared.

Molly nodded her head noncommittally. "But you're more into skateboarding, right?" she asked, recalling the show he had been watching when she had walked into Storm Chargers. At his nod, a crooked grin suddenly spread across her face. "Are you any good?"

He answered her hidden challenge with a grin of his own. "Tell you what – I'll let you judge for yourself." He chugged the last of his drink and gathered the empty food containers onto his tray. "I have to go practice for my skate demo tomorrow. Wanna come along and watch?"

He picked up his tray, heading for the trash container when he suddenly looked over his shoulder. "You can sense when I'm about to fall and warn me."

Molly couldn't help but chuckle while she rolled her eyes. "All right."

They spent the better part of the next two hours at the skate park, Molly watching from the top of a low wall where she sat cross-legged, alternating between teasing him and cheering him on.

And Shane found that he enjoyed both.

Feeling a bit audacious, Shane went down the half-pipe, going for a one-eighty backslide flip that unfortunately fell a little short, causing him to slide down the rest of the ramp on his butt.

Looking up into Molly's grinning face, he grumbled, "Weren't you supposed to warn me before I crash?"

Her grin never wavering, she held out her hand to him, pulling him up. "You fell too fast even for _me _to sense that."

Molly was a regular tomboy. A little while later, when Shane dared her to try a combo herself after yet another one of her teasings, he was surprised to see her rise to the challenge without hesitation.

Of course it didn't take long until she was flat on her back at the bottom of the skate ramp, but she laughed good-naturedly while Shane retrieved the banged-up skateboard and helped her back to her feet.

"All right," she grinned, wiping the dust from her jeans. "I know when I'm beat."

"Hey, you lasted longer than Dustin or Tori when they tried it," Shane replied. "Not bad for a first-timer."

They went back to the low stone wall where they found a spot right under a giant sycamore, the tree spreading the gift of shade on this hot summer afternoon. They shared a soda, and Shane invited Molly to his skate demo tomorrow. He was surprised to feel his heart skip a beat when she accepted.

That night, alone in his bed, Molly's image on his skateboard was the last thing Shane saw in his mind before he drifted off to sleep.

**_Secrets…_**

She was right there the next day, standing between Tori and Dustin as they assiduously cheered him on during his turn at the demo.

And she was right there as well, patting him on the back and trying to cheer him up, when he ended up in third place.

"I tell you what," she said to him as much as to the others. "I know a place where you'll come out on top every time. Come on."

She led them to a nearby amusement park, and Shane's mood increased significantly during the next few hours as the four of them tried their bests to beat each other at Top Skater, Motor Raid, Killer Instinct, Ultimate Pinball and half a dozen other games throughout the huge arcade. Only after they had exhausted all of their funds, they reluctantly agreed that it was time to leave.

Outside, night had settled over Blue Bay Harbor like a warm layer of weightless black silk. Tori naturally offered to drive them all home and Dustin and Shane were already piling into the van before Shane realized that Molly was hanging back.

"You coming?" he called, but Molly shook her head.

"No, I'm ok. I, ah, I live just down the street from here. Hardly five minutes to walk. I'll catch you guys tomorrow."

She turned to leave, and the three Wind ninjas exchanged puzzled looks before Shane scrambled back out of the van. He caught up with Molly after a few steps.

"Hey, it's no biggie driving you home," he said as he caught her arm. "Tori doesn't mind. Seriously."

An unsettled expression came over her face before she quickly turned her head away. "I'll be fine. It's really just a short walk. No need for Tori to bother driving me," she said quickly, already picking up her pace again. Shane looked towards the van, waved for Tori to go ahead and leave, then fell into step besides Molly.

"All right, then I'll walk you home," he offered, but the dark-blonde ninja shook her head, a little too vigorously.

"There's really no need. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself," she said, but her grin was forced. That just made Shane even more adamant.

"I'm sure you can, but that's just not the way _I _do things," he said as he steadfastly continued to walk next to her. "If Tori didn't have her van, I'd walk her home, too, even though I know _for a fact_ that she doesn't need any kind of protection." He gave her a determined look for emphasis. "End of discussion. Now, which way to your place?"

Molly's shoulders sagged, and with a resigned look on her face, she led the way.

The walk took a little longer than five minutes and was conducted in a somewhat awkward silence, but at the end Molly stopped right outside a guardhouse next to the front entrance of a posh gated community. The tall wrought-iron fence was ornate, but had an impenetrable look to it. The guardhouse was empty, and Shane could have sworn he saw a look of relief on Molly's face at that. She turned towards the gate's access panel, and her hand lingered over it for a moment before she finally punched in a five-digit entry code. While the gate swung open, Molly turned to Shane.

"Thanks for the escort," she said. "I'll see you around, ok?" She suddenly seemed in a hurry to get inside.

Shane scrambled for something, _anything_ to say to prolong her departure, and he wasn't even sure why. "So, are you gonna stop by the store tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah, sure, sometime after school, okay?" Molly cast a nervous glance over her shoulder, and Shane was wondering what, or who, she was scanning for. Her parents maybe, watching from the window of one of those fancy houses behind her?

Molly focused her gaze back on him. "Listen, it's getting late and by now my parents are probably wondering where I am…"

Shane let himself catch the hint and backed off from the gate, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. "All right, I guess I'll see you later, then."

"Good night," Molly said, but for a moment longer she lingered, looking like she was about to say something more. Then she apparently thought better of it and disappeared through the gate without another word, leaving a perplexed Shane staring after her until the gate clanked shut. He finally turned and walked away, but he hadn't gone ten steps before he stopped again.

Something just wasn't right. The way she kept insisting she could get home on her own just to end up here, in this fancy place…

'_Maybe she really is just one of those rich girls who is for some unaccountable reason ashamed of her good fortune,'_ he though, but the nagging feeling in the back of his head just wouldn't let up. Her obvious reluctance against him walking her home had sounded too much like Blake and Hunter when they had tried their best to keep the Winds from finding out what dump they were forced to live in back before they had moved into Ninja Ops.

The image of her hand hovering over the gate panel reappeared before his mental eyes. She hadn't seemed to know the code; it had looked to Shane more like she was trying to sense the number combination. And with the kind of powers she had…

Shane looked back at the closed gate, then slunk into the shadows between two parked cars. He'd give it five minutes, then go home.

It took less than three.

The gate opened with a slight creak, and Molly's slim form emerged. She quickly glanced left and right, then started back towards Main Street at a brisk pace.

'_I knew there was something funny going on,'_ Shane thought grimly as he watched her retreating silhouette a moment longer before he took off after her, taking care to stay in the shadows of the buildings along the way.

Molly jogged along Main for almost ten minutes before she turned into a smaller side street. By now the steel, glass and whitewashed brick houses and stores had given way to older, more run-down housing projects, and the area was getting more dirty and trash-littered by the minute. Shane was growing increasingly uneasy as he found himself looking over his shoulder and scanning the shadows all around him. _Where in the world was she going?_

A few yards later his question was answered when Molly stopped in front of an old and decrepit three-story brownstone. She tilted her head as if to scan the upper floor windows, stayed in that position for a long moment, then started towards the door.

TBC…


	3. chapter 3

_A/N: This chapter has no action, I'm afraid. It is mostly conversation, but it will lend some depth to Molly's character as well as pave the way some more towards Shane's and Molly's attraction to one another.  
__But don't despair – there'll be action aplenty in the next few chapters. Enjoy!_

Molly looked up the three stone steps that led to the front door. God, she didn't want to be here, but there was no other choice tonight.

'_If only I still had my key, I could just sneak into my room and she might never even notice I'm there,'_ she thought dismayed.

But she didn't. Her mother – or Marsha, how Molly preferred to think of her – had taken her key a long time ago. Molly's mouth tightened into a thin, hard line. Images from a scene a few months ago splashed through her head, only this time they were not visions but very real memories.

Marsha, stoned and drunk…_Who do you think you are, you little mooch? You live here for free, you eat here for free. You think this is gonna last forever? You need to start pulling your weight around here, missy, and I know just the thing for you…_

What Marsha had suggested that night had sent Molly running out of the apartment, and she hadn't been back since.

Molly sighed as she turned to ascend the steps. _'Oh well, I don't have anywhere else to go tonight…'_

Her finger was poised over the doorbell when she suddenly felt _him_.

_**Confrontations…**_

Shane watched Molly walk up the stone steps of the dilapidated apartment building. Her hand came up, reaching for the intercom when he suddenly saw her stiffen. Her hand slowly withdrew from the doorbell, and even though her head was still turned towards the front door, her voice drifted to him loud and clear. "Shane, I know you're there. Might as well come out."

_Damn!_ Startled, and somewhat embarrassed, Shane stepped out of the shadows of the adjacent building, readying himself for an angry confrontation. Molly stood unmoving on the top step of the porch, arms tight across her chest, glaring at him silently. She waited until he had reached the first stone step before she snapped, "Well, congratulations! You actually managed to follow me all the way here before I sensed you. A true ninja indeed."

The sarcasm was laced with hurt, and Shane winced. He was about to mumble an explanation, but Molly didn't give him the chance. She waved one hand into the direction of the battered front door. "Welcome to my real mansion," she said crossly, "I hope you won't mind that I'm not gonna ask you in, because by now my mother is probably too drunk to be a proper hostess."

"You _live_ here?" Shane tried not to let his dismay show, but from the look on Molly's face he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Wrong. My mother lives here," she countered. "I stop by every now and then, when I don't have enough quarters anymore to wash my clothes at the Laundromat, because there's a washer and dryer in the basement here." Molly leaned against the doorframe, arms still crossed defensively over her breasts.

A small flicker of irritation came across Shane's face. "Hey, it was just a question; no reason to get all sarcastic on me."

Molly frowned. "Who says I am being sarcastic?"

The two Air ninjas looked at each other silently for a long moment until a rustling sound on the sidewalk broke the stalemate. Molly averted her eyes, silently watching as a scrawny grey cat chased a crumpled piece of paper down the street.

Shane was silent as well, waiting, and after a moment, Molly turned back to him and sighed. The fire in her eyes had dimmed. "I _used_ to live at the Wind Academy. Carmen and I shared a room in the students' dorm." Her expression clouded at the mention of her friend's name. "That's where my life was…until the day of the attack."

"That was four months ago," Shane said. "So where have you lived since then?"

Shane thought it was an innocent enough question, but apparently Molly didn't think so.

"What's it to you?" she demanded, ready to go onto the defensive again, but the look on Shane's face was enough to instantly disarm her; it was a look only one other person on earth had ever given her – her best friend Carmen.

It was genuine concern.

Against her will, a warm feeling spread through Molly and her shoulders sagged, eyes resting on his dark face. "At first I tried to stay here again, at least for a while until I found something else – but it didn't work out. We just don't get along."

"You and your mom, you mean?"

Molly nodded. "Yeah. Look, it's a long story, ok? And frankly, I don't feel like purging my soul to you." The defensiveness was back in her voice.

Shane held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, I never thought of myself as a qualified confessional priest anyways. All I want to know is where you've been living for the past four months, if not here."

Molly stared at Shane for a long moment, then let out an exasperated sigh and made an open-handed motion into the direction of a few cars parked along the curb. It took Shane a moment to catch on, but when realization finally clicked, he fixed Molly with a shocked stare. "You're kidding, right?" He was hoping she was.

But the blonde girl shook her head. "Carmen and I bought a car together just a few weeks before the attack, but I had to take it to the shop yesterday, and it won't be fixed until tomorrow; that's why I have to stay here tonight."

"You've been living in your car." Shane stated, still staring unbelievingly.

Molly just nodded. "The backseat's really not that uncomfortable once you get used to it, and I usually park right next to my high school and that works out really well, because the principal slams his car door so loud when he arrives that it wakes me up every morning - so I'm never late for school. And the showers in the gym are really nice."

The genuine nonchalant way she spoke about her living situation had Shane completely flabbergasted and at that moment he made an instantaneous decision.

"You know, you could stay at my house tonight," he suggested, but Molly immediately shook her head.

"I don't want your charity, Shane," she said, a guarded look creeping into her celadon eyes. "Besides, what would your parents say?"

"They went on a one-week Mexico cruise the day before yesterday." Shane peered back at her, and the look on her face led him to guess that she probably thought he had ulterior motives for the invitation. He held up his hand. "Hey, I can totally see what you're thinking, and _no_, there's no need to worry. I'll be the perfect gentleman.

"And if it'll make you feel better, I'll _charge_ you for my living-room couch, all right?" he added.

Molly looked at him incredulously for a moment, but then her face split into a slow grin. "And just how much do you want for your couch?"

Shane smiled. This was the perfect opportunity to propose to her what had been on his mind for a while now. "Tell you what…they are showing The Matrix at the Cinedome. How about 6pm tomorrow? Tickets are on me, but you are getting the popcorn and the drinks. And I'm warning you right now; I'm getting the biggest bucket they got."

"Shane…"

Shane made a show of shrugging. "But of course, if you can't afford it…"

Molly finally gave him a crooked grin. "All right, you're on. But I'm picking you up at Storm Chargers. I'll have my wheels back by then."

Shane nodded. "Deal. But for now, let's find a taxi or something. Time to get home."

"Or we could just ninja-streak to your place. Would save you the cab fare," Molly suggested, and Shane threw her a disapproving glance.

"You know we're not supposed to use our powers in public."

Molly just shrugged. "I'm not worried about any repercussions. According to you, all the ninja senseis are trapped inside their own personal bubbles on board an alien spaceship miles above our heads. Who's gonna reprimand me?"

In lieu of an answer, Shane only gave her a narrow-eyed, stern look, and after a moment Molly held up her hands and chuckled. "Ok, point taken. Let's get the taxi."

Her eyes flickered upwards to the dimly illuminated third-story window for a quick moment before she hoisted her backpack over her shoulder and headed down the porch steps. "Have to get back to Main for that. There are no cabs coming around _these_ parts."

Shane had no problem believing that as he sauntered after her down the steps, and together they headed down the trash-strewn sidewalk towards Main Street.

**_Shane's house…_**

The Clark family's home was a modest, two-story white clapboard house in a middle-class area of town less than fifteen minutes from Molly's mother's apartment, yet worlds apart. Shane gave her a quick tour of the place, then left her in the living-room while he ran upstairs to grab some extra bedding.

Molly looked around the living room; a comfy-looking, multicolored sofa, loveseat and recliner, an entertainment system well stocked with DVD's and CD's, a nice-size hexagonal fish tank bubbling in the corner – and everything was tidy and clean.

So different from her mother's place…With a determined effort, she swallowed the pang of momentary jealousy that welled up in her at this seemingly normal home life.

Shane returned with an armful of pillows and a thick, red blanket. She nodded her thanks, and a small grin spread across her face as her gaze went from the blanket to his red sweatshirt and back. "Red really seems to be your favorite color."

His expression turned slightly sheepish. "Yeah. It's an Air ninja thing, I guess."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a contradictory vibe hit Molly dead on.

_Yeah, right._ But she kept her face even, made a non-committal noise and busied herself with arranging the pillows on the couch. Shane hung around, obviously trying to think of something to keep up the conversation.

"Do you need anything else?" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen. "You want me to get you a soda or something?"

Molly shook her head. "No, I'm ok, thanks."

The makeshift bed was made, so there was really no excuse not to turn to him now and as she did, the two Air ninjas regarded each other somewhat awkwardly for a moment. Molly quickly grabbed her backpack. "I think I'm just gonna get changed and turn in for the night. I'm kinda tired – "

"Yeah, gotta get up early for school tomorrow," Shane agreed.

"Me, too," Molly gave him a thin smile and started towards the bathroom. She had her hand on the doorknob before she turned her head once more. "Good night, Shane. Thanks for letting me stay here tonight."

"Anytime," he said softly, and she knew he meant it. "Good night."

In the bathroom, Molly took her time getting changed and ready for bed, and when she re-emerged, he was gone.

For a moment, she simply stood motionless, listening, but there was no noise coming from upstairs. After turning off the living room lights, she snuggled into the pillows, getting comfortable and ready for what was she knew was to be a long wait until sleep would finally claim her. She really _was_ tired, but her mind, spinning with all the events and revelations of the day, was far from ready to shut down yet. Almost instantly, her thoughts turned back to the confrontation in front of her mother's apartment building. She had been upset at first at Shane's snooping, but after the first anger had passed, only embarrassment remained.  
Predispositioned by her _'otherness'_ to be extremely introverted, Molly had never let anyone get close enough to her to find out anything about her family affairs. Shame and embarrassment were good deterrents against friendships.

No one but Carmen's, that was.

Molly sighed into the darkness. Since the attack, she had gone back to the academy grounds a dozen times, meditating, opening her senses to the frightening visions in order to extract any information from them that might help her locate Carmen and the rest of the vanished students. Ironically, in the past two days she had found out more than in the last four months combined. But whereas all the things she had heard lately had definitely cleared up a lot of her confusions, they had also certainly added a great deal more dread.

Molly lay on her back on the couch, staring up at the play of shadows on the Clarks' living room ceiling.

The tiny noise was almost inaudible, and definitely worthy of an advanced ninja student. Molly wasn't even sure whether Shane was really coming down the stairs until she felt his by now familiar vibes. She tensed; was he coming to collect another kind of 'payment' for his hospitality now?

But Shane passed the living room, went straight for the entrance door where he paused for a moment, then turned and headed back towards the staircase, as silently as a mouse.

When he passed the living room again, she spoke up.

"No need to tiptoe around your own house," she said into the shadowy darkness, and Shane's silhouette stopped.

"I just wanted to make sure I had locked the front door," his voice carried towards her. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

She sat up on one elbow. "You didn't. I wasn't asleep yet. Probably won't be for a while."

She watched him turn, and for a moment he just stood there as if unsure of what to do. Then he came into the living room, pausing beside the loveseat. "I thought you said you were tired?"

Molly promptly yawned. "Yeah, well, my brain usually ignores my body, so I'll be up for a while longer."

Shane leaned against the arm of the loveseat. "Want some company? To talk, I mean?"

He waited while Molly regarded him. Then she wrapped more of the red blanket around her, pulling it towards her from the far side of the couch cushion in a silent invitation for him to join her on the sofa.

He sat next to her, his hands in his lap. He hadn't turned on any lights, but Molly could see enough of him from the moonlight that shone into the room through the uncovered window. He was dressed in what she presumed was his sleepwear; cut-off black sweatpants and a loose red top with torn-off sleeves that looked to be a favorite of his from the state of wear it was in.

_Red again,_ she noticed and suddenly, as soon as that thought hit her head, she received a vibe coming from him; for a brief moment, he seemed to glow, an aura of red, visible only to her eyes, bathing his body, and Molly blinked in surprise. Then it was gone, but the picture stuck with her. _'Something about this color,'_ she sensed, _'and it's not an air ninja thing. Something more…' _She tucked that thought away for later analysis; right now she was pretty sure that whatever they ended up talking about would have nothing to do with any sort of clothing color preferences.

Shane tried not to stare at Molly. From her position on the couch, most of the moonlight that fell into the room was behind her, illuminating her from the rear with an almost ghostly glow. Without her glasses, she looked different, older, and for some reason, more serious. Her hair fell loose over both of her shoulders, and from out of nowhere, Shane found himself wanting to touch those dark blonde strands. He blinked quickly, quenching those traitorous thoughts as he remembered her words from yesterday at the mall's food court. _I can sense things in people; feelings, moods…emotions…_

"Uhm, so what should we talk about?" Molly suddenly averted her eyes and reached out to pick up her glasses from the living room table. Maybe she had already sensed those feelings of his and was now giving him an opening, trying to spare him further embarrassment. He jumped on it.

"How about you? I would like to get to know you better," he said. The look in his eyes was sincere, but Molly nevertheless let out a humorless laugh. "Shane, if you knew more about me you would probably re-think your offer of letting me stay here for the night."

Shane's expression became somewhat offended at that. "Try me first before you make assumptions," he said and leaned back into the couch cushions, arms crossed before him, with no intention of letting this subject go.

_Not assumptions, Shane, just lessons learned from experience,_ Molly thought as she regarded him for a long moment, then let out a resigned sigh. "All right, what do you want to know?"

"How come you live in your car?"

"That really seems to bother you, doesn't it?" she countered the question with a question. "How come?"

_Why?_ The answer was so obvious to Shane, but he nevertheless found himself searching for the right words to articulate his response. He settled for, "Probably because that's just not the way things are supposed to be."

Molly just shrugged. "Yeah, well, life isn't always fair."

"But your mother…"

"My mother," Molly echoed and a hard smile that never reached her eyes crept into the corners of her mouth. "My mother is a drug-addicted, alcoholic slut and has been that way for as long as I can remember."

Shane was taken aback at the girl's brutal honesty, and for a moment he couldn't think of any fitting reply, but Molly was already going on.

"There are two things I promised myself I would never do in my life," she said. "Listen to a Marilyn Manson song…and end up like my mother. So I had to go."

"When was that?" he asked.

"About a year ago," she replied without hesitation.

Shane's eyes went wide. "But you couldn't have been more than…"

"Sixteen," Molly finished the sentence for him.

Shane's face took on a horrified expression. "That's nuts. What kind of mother would let her sixteen-year old daughter be homeless?"

Molly just shrugged. "The kind that needed extra income to pay the bills – and to pay for the dope she smokes all day. So when some of her crack-head boyfriends expressed an interest in me, she was willing to make certain trade-offs. But I wasn't. That's when she decided that, if I don't pull my weight, I might as well get the hell out."

_Jeez!_ Shane leaned back heavily against the couch cushions. G_rowing up in a place full of drug users, her own mother ready to exchange her for her next hit…_Bile rose in his throat, and with a determined effort he pushed away the visual that was assembling in his mind.

Molly watched him looking at the ceiling, looking down at his hands, looking towards the staircase leading to the upper floor…anywhere but her. She was wondering whether he was formulating a response to what he had just heard, or trying to suppress a rising temper.

When his gaze turned back to her, he asked, "What about your dad?"

Molly snorted. "I asked her about him once or twice, and she actually made an honest effort to remember which one of her casual flings it might have been, but she could never settle on anyone specific." She was stone-faced. "Matter of fact, I was an accident. A fact she loves to point out to me every now and then."

Shane was appalled, but also genuinely surprised, at the casual way this girl next to him relayed such painful memories. He shook his head sadly.

"Told you it wasn't gonna be pretty," she said quietly, and there was nothing he could say to refute that.

Next to him, Molly shifted, turning so she was facing him more. "I have a brother, Nicholas. He's five years older than me – and normal. My mother had him before she got sucked into the drug vortex. Back in San Diego, my grandparents practically raised him, but when my mother got pregnant with me, they had a huge fall-out and she packed up and left town to come here with him. After I was born, she tried to straighten up her act, but that obviously failed. So it was basically up to Nick to take care of me." She smiled ruefully. "He's an amazing guy, and I love him to death. He and Carmen are the only sources of stability in my life. Without them, I don't know _how_ messed up I'd be by now."

Shane was glad to hear that there were at least a few people in Molly's life who gave her the love and support she deserved. "So where is your brother now?" he wanted to know.

Her smile died. "He joined the army on his eighteenth birthday. Said it was his birthday present to himself. He had been talking about it for years, and by then I was thirteen going on thirty, so old enough to watch my own back. Plus, by then I was already friends with Carmen, and her family had already practically adopted me." Her half-sad smile returned at the mention of her friend only to dissolve again with her next sentence.

"Nick's stationed at Ft. Benning, in Georgia. We talk on the phone every few weeks, but he hasn't been back to Blue Bay Harbor in over two years."

Shane could literally feel her mood changing again, so he decided to change the subject. "But your powers…those visions –"

"Ah, yes. The curse." Molly shifted again, looking suddenly more uncomfortable than she had been at any time so far.

"Don't be embarrassed about being different," Shane said determinedly. "You should see these powers of yours as a gift." He was rewarded with a half-glare from behind Molly's glasses.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is much more of a curse than a gift. Especially when I have yet, _after seventeen years_, to figure out how to control it all." Her shoulders sagged. "Shane, I'm not just different – I'm a freak. I should be in the next X-men movie."

She grabbed a pillow and pressed it tightly against her chest. "Seventeen years ago, two sloshed and completely stoned drug addicts had sex, and what you see here now is the end product. One of my mother's favorite stories she used to tell me was that, on the day I was born, she was so high on heroin that she didn't even realize it when she went into labor. She almost had me on the floor of the apartment she was shooting up in. And when her dope-fiend friends finally dropped her off at the hospital, the doctors all thought I'd either be born a complete retard or wouldn't last through my first month of life, because the nine months of booze and dope didn't sit too well with my brain." She gave him a sad smile. "Hence the visions and the voice and all that. I was the whole nine yards when I was born. Premature, underweight, cocaine-addicted, you name it."

Shane tried his best to hide his shock. "Guess you proved them all wrong," he said, shaping his mouth into something resembling a reassuring smile, but failing miserably. He needn't have tried, for Molly's gaze was fixed on a spot on the glass-topped living room table before her. What she was seeing, however, was beyond anything currently on display on the tabletop.

"Yeah, I remember my pediatrician telling me years later how stunned she was that I defied everyone's expectations when I made it through the infant withdrawal symptoms and grew up to be…_healthy_." Her sad smile was stitched onto her face while she drawled out the last word. "In body, maybe, but up here…" She tapped her temple. "How can I be anything else but a freak!"

"Will you stop, already!" Shane shook his head, fixing her with an unblinking stare. "I don't know much about drug babies, but one thing I do know is that lots of them end up with severe handicaps. So would you rather be the way you are now, or be a mental vegetable? A seventeen-year old with the mind of a toddler, living your entire life in a care facility with people helping you dress, eat,…" He trailed off, letting the sentence's effect sink in before he continued, "You're not a freak, but you _are _different, and for that I think you're in very good company." He shrugged casually at Molly's wry look. "Think about it…Students at a secret ninja school, controlling elemental powers… Tori, Dustin and I aren't exactly what you would consider your average, every-day teenagers, either."

Molly looked subdued, but nodded. "That's why I've always felt so at home at the Wind Academy. There was so much more acceptance there than _out in the real world_." Her voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. "I miss it, Shane. The school, the daily routines, everything. Even the nose-dives out of the trees during Air element training."

They shared a small chuckle, but it was short-lived.

"Yeah, me, too," Shane said, gloom threatening to settle over him, so he quickly steered away from the depressing topic onto a new one.

"Look, about this whole couch thing…" he began, waving his hand feebly. "I think it would be much more comfortable for you to sleep in my bed."

Molly looked up, torn out of her reverie. "And with you in it I take it?" Her gaze burned into him, and Shane's face took on an indignant look.

"No, that's not what I meant! I would stay down here, of course. It just doesn't feel right having you sleep on the couch while I'm in the bed."

"It's _your_ bed, Shane."

"So?"

'_Such misdirected chivalry,'_ Molly thought as she looked at the young man next to her. "Thanks, Shane, but this is fine, really. Besides, the deal was for the couch."

"But…"

"Look, it's either the couch or back to the backseat of my car, ok?"

"I thought your car was in the shop," he countered.

"It is, but do you really think that would stop me from getting to it?"

They locked eyes for a long moment, and Shane blinked first. "Fine, you win," he said, resigned. "If you're sure you'll be ok down here."

Molly patted the couch cushion. "Hey, this is warm, soft and comfortable. There's a roof over my head and indoor plumbing. It's perfect. Really."

Shane gave up. "All right." A silence followed in which they gazed at each other a little too long, both aware of the current that was running between them, and neither of them quite willing to say good night yet. But it was getting really late and tomorrow was a school day. Shane finally made the first move by clearing his throat.

"Well, we better get some sleep," he sighed and was about to push himself out of the cushions when he felt a hand on his arm. Molly's eyes were on him.

"Shane, I…thanks," she said quietly.

"For what?"

"For everything. For letting me stay here, for listening, for not judging…" She trailed off, her eyes slipping down towards her hand that was still curled around his arm before traveling up to his face again. "You're a nice guy, you know that?"

Somewhat at a loss as to how to respond to this, Shane just gave her a small, sheepish smile. He looked at the time display on the VCR, cleared his throat again and hurried to rise from the sofa. "I, ah, better get to bed, I'm way past ninja bedtime," he joked weakly and made his way towards the staircase.

Bemused at his bashfulness, Molly let him get to the bottom of the staircase before she called to him. "Shane?"

He turned to find her looking at him intently.

"The movie tomorrow…Would that be hanging out or going on a date?"

Shane gave her a small smile. "I'll leave that choice up to you," he said, then turned and headed up the stairs to his room.

She looked after him until he had disappeared onto the second floor landing, then leaned back into her pillows. She shut her eyes only to see him walk up the stairs from behind her closed eyelids. _Ok, that wasn't helping_.

She tossed around a few times, fluffed up the pillows, shook out the blanket, but to no avail. It wasn't her body that wasn't getting comfortable, it was her head.

_I'll leave that choice up to you._

Molly put her hands behind her head, pondering the options. _What did she want?_

Shane was definitely a nice guy, sweet, had manners, was funny, not to mention cute – but did she want to go out with him?

Her mind, conscience, whatever it was, had the answer ready for her. _Yes, you do!_

And with a sigh she conceited to the truth; no, she didn't want to hang out, she wanted option # 2.

Question was: Did he?

Molly was hoping he did.

**TBC…**


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Spoilers for 'Pork Chopped' in this chapter.  
__I took the liberty of resurrecting Trayf, the pig monster from Pork Chopped. He just seemed to fit into the story. Plus, it gave me an excuse to metaphor…_

_Cmar, CamFan, AngelMouse, Vampire, Weesta, Garnetred, and all my other reviewers, thanks so much for reading and commenting on the story. I greatly appreciate all your feedback!_

"_She what?_" Dustin exclaimed, turning from the shelf where he was stacking containers of motor oil and across the room, Tori's head rose from the magazine she was reading behind Storm Chargers' check-out counter. Shane rolled his eyes at his brunet friend's arched eyebrows.

"She stayed at my house last night. So what?"

"And with your parents gone on their cruise," Dustin grinned mischievously. "How convenient."

"Yeah, no wonder you've looked so tired at school all day," Tori's face mirrored Dustin's as she approached them. Shane wagged a finger at his fellow ninjas.

"I know what you two are getting at, and _no!_ She slept on the couch, ok? And the reason why I'm tired is because we were up until almost two in the morning." He shot them both a pointed look. "_TALKING!_"

"Must have been a lot to talk about," Dustin remarked with a wry look on his face which Shane decided to purposely overlook.

"Yeah, well, she's pretty…unique," he replied vaguely, and his eyes went to the clock on the wall behind the cash register. "Matter of fact, she should be here any minute now. We're catching a movie at the Cinedome."

There was another pointed exchange of glances between Dustin and Tori, and Shane shook his head in mock exasperation. "Oh please, it's just a movie, guys."

"I didn't say nothing," Dustin smirked. Tori brought up her hands, palms up.

"Me neither," she said, trying hard to keep a straight face.

Shane rolled his eyes. "I'm out. Catch ya'll later." He rapped knuckles with Dustin, enveloped Tori in a quick hug, then grabbed his jacket and headed out the door, leaving his two friends grinning after him.

_**Meanwhile…**_

A few miles above Storm Chargers, Lothor peered at his viewing screen and cackled. "A movie date, huh? Well, what kind of evil space ninja would I be if I let those Rangers have too much fun?" He thought for a minute. "Now who should I send down there to spoil it for them…Ah, yes, Footzilla!"

"Uhm, Uncle, Footzilla came down with athlete's foot a few days ago," came a high-pitched voice from the back of the spaceship's bridge.

Lothor's head whipped around until his eyes came to rest on his two nieces who were busy painting each other's nails. "He did? Darn! Well, how about Shimatsu?"

Mara looked up from examining her sister's bright pink nail. "He went to the Japanese cherry blossom festival. It's that time of the year, you know."

"Curses!" Lothor balled his fist. "All right…Chooboo then."

Kapri shook her head. "Don't you remember? He put in his annual vacation request and you granted him a weeks' leave."

Lothor looked genuinely puzzled. "I let him go on vacation?"

Both sisters nodded. "It's in the Evil Army Employee Handbook. Generals get one week a year."

"Remind me to make some changes to the Handbook when I get a chance," the masked ninja growled and threw up his hands in frustration. "For crying out loud! Do I have _anybody_ left to fight those blasted Power Rangers?"

"Well, there's one…" Kapri said. "But we _just_ finished stitching him back together from the last time the Rangers thrashed him, so he might not be at full capacity yet."

"That's fine," Lothor waved aside his niece's concern. "I just need him to divert the Rangers' attention so I can put my real plan into action."

Mara and Kapri looked at each other with renewed curiosity and came to their uncle's side. "What's the real plan?"

A slow, evil smile spread across what was visible of Lothor's face behind the leather mask. "Well, what I'm planning on doing is…"

His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, and after a moment, the smiles on both sister's faces matched that of their uncle.

**_The date…_**

"What is _that_?" Shane gasped as Molly pulled up in front of Storm Chargers a few minutes later in an ancient and beat-up silver Honda Accord.

Molly leaned across the passenger seat and grinned out the open window. "My pride and joy. And the biggest lemon in Blue Bay Harbor."

As if on cue, the car promptly stalled and died with one last, dignified backfiring.

"Think it would help if I pushed?" Shane asked with a smirk, and Molly rolled his eyes at him while she worked the ignition key and pumped the gas petal.

"Just get in!"

"You think we're gonna _make_ it to the movies in this?" Shane laughed as he dropped into the passenger seat, and the corners of Molly's mouth rose.

"Well, it's gotten me around so far, off and on." She shot him an amused look. "Needless to say, I got it for real cheap."

"I should hope so."

Molly wagged a finger into Shane's direction, the bemused glint in her eyes still very much visible. "Hey, no car bashing! I worked two jobs during the summer to pay for my half of this."

"And it seems you will need two more soon, with all the repairs this bucket still needs," Shane remarked as he studied the virtually non-existent door handle on his side of the car.

"Or I could just charge you for the rides," Molly deadpanned, receiving a grin from her passenger in return.

The car finally turned over and Molly pulled away from the curb, easing into traffic.

"Do you know how to get to the theatre?" Shane asked, and Molly took her eyes off the street for a moment to smirk at him. "Sure. I double-checked the coordinates with my GPS system just before I got here. Matter of fact, you're sitting on my GPS right now."

Frowning, Shane shifted in his seat, then pulled a dog-eared copy of a Blue Bay Harbor city map out from under him. He gave her a wry look and Molly's grin grew wider.

"Only the best for my passengers."

"I feel so privileged."

They kept up their good-natured bantering throughout the entire ride, and once they arrived at the movie theatre, Shane stayed true to his word and selected the largest size popcorn from the concession stand. A few minutes later they were settled into their seats with their snacks and drinks, and Shane stole a side-glance at Molly, who had just shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth and was chuckling at a silly commercial on the screen at the same time. She looked like a chipmunk, and Shane grinned at the sight.

'_I think this is gonna be a nice afternoon,'_ the Red Ranger thought and settled deeper into his seat as the lights dimmed in the theatre.

**_At Ops…_**

In Ninja Ops' control room, the sparring session of the remaining five Rangers was interrupted by the sudden bleep of the alarm. Cam disentangled himself from Hunter's headlock, rushed towards his terminal and called up the source of trouble. The ritzy Oceanview Mall came up on the screen – and a way too familiar figure wreaking havoc among the crowd of weekend shoppers.

"Oh man, it's that pig. Trayf!" Cam exclaimed.

Hunter was peering over his shoulder an instant later. "What? I thought we roasted that porker a few weeks ago!" the Crimson Ranger cried.

Cam shot him a quick side-glance. "Well, Lothor must have either resurrected or cloned him, 'cause the swine is quite obviously fine."

"Cam, please, dude, we got enough metaphors from that guy when we battled him the first time." Dustin groaned.

"I hope he at least doesn't smell as bad as last time," Hunter grumbled before he turned and stood beside his brother, ready for morphing.

"Man, this brings back painful memories of artificial popcorn flavoring," Blake mumbled to no one in particular.

"I better call Shane," Cam said. Tori made a face and groaned.

"Oh no, and he's out with Molly."

Cam shot her an apologetic look and opened the communications channel.

_**Interruptions…**_

Shane's morpher went off just as Neo and Morpheus were chasing the artificially created army of holographic Mr. Smiths through the fantastic virtual reality of The Matrix.

Shane closed his eyes, and for an entire half a second he contemplated ignoring the hail.

Molly threw him an enquiring glance. "Weird alarm on your weird watch" she remarked with an implacable expression, and Shane's mind raced.

"Uhm, that's my alarm for…my pills," he muttered and heaved himself out of his seat, a half-panicked, half apologetic look in his eyes. "I'm taking these vitamins…"

But Molly was already shaking her head. "Ah, Shane…freakish psychic, remember?" She tapped her finger to her temple and Shane's face fell.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." _How do you lie to someone who has a built-in polygraph in her head?_

"I…I'll be right back," he mumbled and fled towards the exit, leaving a frowning Molly behind in her seat.

Thankfully, the theatre lobby was deserted, and Shane brought his morpher to his mouth the moment he stepped into the entrance hall. "Go for Shane, and this better be good!"

"Sorry for the interruption, Shane, but we have a situation at the Oceanview Mall. It's Trayf," came Cam's disembodied voice.

Shane frowned. "Didn't we slice him into pork chops just the other week?"

"Apparently not thoroughly enough," Cam replied. "The others are already there, but I'm afraid they might be getting their butts handed to them without you."

At that, Shane's Ranger instinct immediately took precedence over his irritation. "I'll be right there, Cam."

Shane lowered his wrist. _Damn, how am I gonna explain that to her?_

"So you have a watch with a built-in _vitamin_ _alarm_ and a communicator," a sarcastic voice suddenly sounded from behind him. "Where'd you get it, anyway? The ninja surplus store?"

Shane spun around to see Molly standing a few feet behind him, arms crossed, narrowed eyes firmly fixed on him. "Molly, uhm…" Shane fumbled, but the girl waved him off.

"Never mind. From what I heard, it sounds like you've got to go."

He heaved a deep breath. "Yeah. That was Cam. My friends are in trouble." The look he gave her was sorrowful. "I have to help them out. I'm sorry."

Molly nodded, looking neither angry nor pouty as he had expected. She simply looked resigned as she stared at his morpher. Shane took a step closer to her, resisting the urge to reach out and take her hand. "Look, I know this must look weird to you, but I'll explain everything later, I promise."

Molly watched his face with a dubious expression on her own, but then she nodded again. "All right, but I'm staying until the movie's over _and_ I'm finishing all the popcorn; I paid for it, after all.  
"And I'll hold you to that explanation," she added before she turned and slowly walked back down the hallway towards the movie room.

Shane sighed and headed for the front door.

_**Pork fight…**_

The Red Ranger arrived in the parking lot of the Oceanview Mall just in time to catch up with his four team mates who were about to converge on the hideous pig monster who was staring down a hot dog vendor by the front entrance of the shopping center. All around him, a dozen kelzaks were happily terrorizing the remaining shoppers.

"_All-beef _hot dogs? I hate beef! How dare you sell this junk anywhere near me!" Trayf squeaked, lifted the man off his feet and shook him thoroughly.

"You're just a real attention hog, you know that?" Shane called out, and Trayf spun around, dropping the frightened vendor in the process.

"Ah, just whom I've been waiting for!" the pig monster squealed, facing them. "I have a bone to pick with you guys!"

"Oh yeah?" Blake said. "Well, we've got a whole rack of ribs to pick with _you._"

Hunter drew his Thunder staff and took a step forward. "I don't know who let you out of the slaughterhouse, but we've got every intention of sending you back there."

Several metallic sliding noises told the Crimson Ranger that the others had drawn their weapons as well.

Trayf snorted an evil laugh. "Bring it on, then!" The pig drew his weapon, an oversized meat cleaver. "I'm Pork with a Purpose now. To destroy you!"

Dustin shook his helmeted head. "Man, his lines are even worse than last time."

At that very moment, the double glass doors of the mall were flung open and Mara and Kapri walked out, holding shopping bags. The two kelzaks trailing behind them were so loaded up with packages and parcels, one couldn't even see their helmets.

"Oh, look who's here," Mara exclaimed, pointing at Tori. "You know, I saw this pink outfit back at JC Penney's that would be perfect for you, Miss Ranger-thing. Blue is just _so _not your color."

"Did you pay for all this stuff?" Tori called back, deliberately ignoring the color taunt.

Kapri let out a loud cackle. "Didn't you know? They had a sale that started right when we walked in the door. _Everything for free!_"

Mara joined her sister in her laughter, and they seated themselves on a stone bench behind Trayf.

"This is _so_ great," Kapri exclaimed. "Really cute new outfits _and_ after-shopping entertainment."

That was apparently Trayf's cue, for he let out an earsplitting squeal and launched himself at the nearest Ranger, which happened to be Hunter. The Crimson Ranger blocked the monster's attack and immediately went into the offensive.

The rest of the Rangers fanned out, taking on the advancing kelzaks, and the battle began.

Hunter was duking it out with Trayf while the rest of the team took on the kelzaks two and three at the time.

After some back-and-forth parrying, the alien managed to get off a lucky swing with the meat cleaver that sent Hunter flying backwards several feet. The pig monster's evil laugh rang across the plaza. "Ha! This little piggy's chopping down some Rangers!"

Shane was right there to take up his fallen team mate's place. "Oh, put a truffle in it, boarhead," the Red Ranger exclaimed as he started towards the monster, slashing at him with his sword.

"Who're you calling _boarhead?_!" Trayf squealed indignantly and swung his weapon. But the klutzy cleaver was no match for a sleek ninja sword handled by a lightening-quick Power Ranger.

Now the battle quickly took a turn, for despite his abiding taunts and jeers, the alien hog seemed to weaken rapidly under the onslaught of Shane's thrusts and parries.

Back on the bench, Mara and Kapri, who had been watching while stuffing themselves with hot dogs from the abandoned vendor cart, were getting nervous.

"I don't think he'll last much longer," Mara cried as Trayf stumbled backwards, then fell to one knee, the Red Ranger hovering over him.

Kapri waved her hand dismissively. "It's okay. This should have been long enough for Zurgane to snatch the ninja chick." She tossed the remains of her hot dog and turned to pick up her shopping bags. "Time to get back to the ship and try on our new clothes."

Mara clapped her hands with a delighted cry. "Oh yes, let's!"

A few feet away from them, Shane, who had been getting ready to finish off the monster, suddenly paused in mid-swing and turned towards Lothor's nieces.

"What are you talking about, freaks?"

The two girls giggled, and a dark sense of foreboding settled over him as something clicked in his head. "This was a trick!"

Kapri rolled her eyes at him. "If ya _have_ to know…duh, yes!"

"And thanks to you, little red riding hood, Uncle's ninja collection should be complete by now," Mara chimed in, and both girls giggled again. "Ta!"

They disappeared in a flash of light just as the Red Ranger was sprinting towards them.

_Molly! _A clump of fear was quickly taking up residence in Shane's stomach as Lothor's plan dawned on him, and he turned towards his team, the porker crouched a few feet behind him all but forgotten.

"They're out to get Molly," he cried. "I've got to find her!"

Blake and Hunter's helmeted heads turned towards him, and suddenly Hunter pointed sharply, whipping out his blaster in the same motion. "Shane, watch out!"

Instinctively, the Red Ranger ducked, and the pig monster's cleaver swooshed past his helmet with an inch to spare.

"One extra-large serving of fried pork rind, extra crispy, coming up!" Hunter cried from across the plaza as he fired the Crimson Blaster.

With a last squeal, Trayf disintegrated into a fireball or orange, yellow and red, and a moment later, all that was left of the alien was the faint smell of hog roast.

The rest of the Ranger team was crowded around Shane in an instant. Blake helped him back to his feet, and the Red Ranger clasped Hunter's shoulder. "Thanks, man."

The Crimson Ranger waved him off. "No sweat."

Shane sheathed his ninja sword and raised his wrist. An instant later he was powered down, standing before his team mates in his leather training uniform. "Guys, this was all just a diversion from Lothor," he said, urgency written all over his face. "I've got to find Molly before they do!"

Tori and Dustin stepped forth. "We're going with you," they chorused.

Shane gave his two friends a grateful nod, and while they powered down, he turned to Blake and Hunter. "Can you guys handle the rest of the mop-up job here by yourselves?"

He looked around the parking lot where only a handful of scattered kelzaks remained.

"Dude, who do you think you're talking to? Of course!" Blake exclaimed, and Hunter waived his hands impatiently.

"Get going. Find your girlfriend."

"She's not my…" But Shane never got to finish his sentence before Tori grabbed him and streaked away with him in a flash of blue and red.

**TBC…**


	5. Chapter 5

A few minutes earlier, while the Rangers were busy battling Trayf on the other side of town, Molly was pulling out of the Cinedome's parking lot and onto the street.

True to her word, she had stayed and finished both the movie and the popcorn, but as she was cruising along with the light traffic, her mind was not on Keanu Reeves, but on Shane. She hoped he was all right – wherever he was. Was it Tori or Dustin who was in trouble? Or both?

Thinking of the Earth and Water ninja abruptly brought up a memory that made Molly sit up straighter. Something she had noticed before but had not really given much thought to until now; Tori and Dustin were wearing the same strange watches as Shane, undoubtedly with the same built-in communicators.

Molly sighed. It really wasn't any of her business. So what if they all wanted to play James Bond and have wrist communicators instead of regular cell phones to stay in touch?

But as much as she wanted to just shrug it off as mere eccentricity, she couldn't; the vibes she had received from Shane in the theatre lobby had been clear. There was more to this entire story than he let on, and as she was going down the road Molly wondered just what – and how much – Shane would explain to her later on.

She was so preoccupied with pondering Shane's secretive behavior, she almost missed her turnoff. With a yard to spare she turned right to cut through the new Southshore housing development area. That short cut would save her twenty minutes to get back to downtown Blue Bay Harbor, and Storm Chargers. _'Might as well wait for him there,'_ she thought. Not like she had anywhere else to go.

She rounded the corner of a half-finished apartment building, still deep in thought – and almost ran straight into the tall, black figure standing right in the middle of the road. With a startled cry, Molly yanked the steering wheel hard to the left. The Honda's tires screeched in protest as she slammed on the brakes, making the car spin 180 degrees before it came to a stop inches before Zurgane's metal feet.

In one swift motion, the black general drew one of his swords from his shoulder sheaths and immediately advanced towards the Honda's driver's side.

Molly was stunned into speechlessness by the sight of the big alien robot. She recognized him immediately, for he had been a major figure in her visions of the attack on the Wind Academy, and to have him suddenly materialize right in front of her scared her more than she would ever have imagined. And now he was coming towards her the same way he had towards the other ninja students. _Coming towards me!_

That snapped her out of her momentary stupor, and her hands flew down to her side, frantically fumbling with the seat belt lock. Zurgane yanked open the driver's side door the same instant Molly's seatbelt snapped open. She threw herself to the right, trying to get to the passenger door, but Zurgane was faster. Cold, metallic fingers dug into the fabric of Molly's shirt, roughly pulling her backwards and out of the car.

"Here, ninja, ninja, ninja!"

Molly let out an involuntary cry when the robot's hand left the collar of her shirt to grab a handful of her hair while his other arm went around her waist, effortlessly lifting her off the ground. She kicked backwards and threw some ineffective punches towards where she assumed his head would be behind her, but her position was too awkward to efficiently defend herself. Besides, she was only a first-year ninja student, and last in all her defensive classes. The odds against this big, looming machine weren't even worth considering.

"Let…me…go!" she snarled, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of hearing any fear in her voice.

The evil space alien's laughter sent cold shivers down her spine. "I will, once you have met your second date for the night. The one that _really_ counts." He kept on chuckling. "This is four months' overdue."

Molly had not the slightest idea what this _thing_ behind her was talking about. Reacting completely on instinct, she reached for the alien's sword arm around her waist, both of her hands encircling his wrist. The moment she made contact with the robotic limb, the picture of a huge, dark spaceship came before her mental eyes, together with the vision of a throne of some sort – and the creature of her nightmares lounging on it.

The nameless man in the leather mask, the one responsible for the ambush on the Academy. The one in the forefront of every one of her visions.

_No, Shane had put a name to the face – Lothor._

She drew her breath in sharply and re-doubled her struggles to break the vice-like grip the black alien had on her, but it was no use.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the alien general was thrown backwards as he was hit first by a flash of red, then yellow and blue. His metal suit erupted in sparks, and amidst a cry of pain he loosened his grips on Molly just enough for her to yank free. She lunged forward and fell to her knees, out of reach of the robot, and whipped her head around.

A few feet behind Zurgane stood Shane, Dustin and Tori, poised in attack positions with death glares on their faces. Molly's heart soared at the sight.

"Hasn't your momma ever taught you how to treat a lady, Zurgane?" Shane growled.

Next to him, Dustin snorted. "Dude, his mother's probably a dishwasher."

"And his dad's a microwave," Tori finished their analysis.

"YOU!" Zurgane screeched furiously. "You aren't supposed…?"

"What? To be here?" Shane finished the sentence. "Guess you didn't expect us to chop Lothor's porker into bite-size pieces quite that fast."

Molly half-scrambled, half-ran to her three fellow ninjas' sides. "Am I glad to see you guys," she said, relief written all over her face. "How did you know…?"

Without turning his head from Zurgane, Shane said, "We have a 'damsel-in-distress' radar."

Molly grinned weakly at his profile. "Another feature of the weird watch?"

Zurgane pointed his sword at the ninjas. "I will not let you ruin my master's plan." Suddenly, there was a remote control in his hands, and a heartbeat later, the robot was surrounded by a swarm of kelzaks. There were at least a dozen of them.

"Destroy them!" he yelled. "And get the girl!"

Shane stepped protectively in front of Molly. "Stand back," he told her and raised his fists, glaring at the bouncing kelzaks who were advancing on them with weapons drawn.

Molly took up defensive stance instead. "No way. I can fight."

Shane shot her an irritated look which she ignored.

"I take it they are not friends of yours?" Molly's strained attempt at a joke failed miserably as she peered warily at the creatures that had just appeared out of thin air. She desperately wanted to know what was going on here, but this just somehow didn't seem to be the perfect time to ask for a lengthy explanation.

Shane snorted. "Heck no. I hang out with some strange people, but not that strange."

"Hey!" Tori and Dustin exclaimed in unison. Shane threw his two friends an amused glance.

"May I suggest something?" Molly asked.

"Suggest away."

Molly eyed the black-helmeted figures. "If they don't know how to streak – then I think maybe we should."

"They don't, but I just hate letting them win," Tori replied.

Molly looked incredulously between the three ninjas. "You've fought those things before?"

"Long story," Dustin said curtly.

"Well, once we're safely somewhere far, far away from those, I have all the time in the world to listen." Molly nodded towards Zurgane. "What about that bad Darth Vader impersonation over there?"

"Zurgane," Shane growled. "Lothor's first general and right-hand man." He gave her his 'I'll explain later' look, an expression Molly was starting to get quite familiar with.

They didn't get much farther, for the kelzaks took that moment to attack.

With battle cries of their own, Dustin, Shane and Tori met the black and red onslaught without hesitation. Shane kept a sharp eye out for Zurgane as he roundhoused two kelzaks while at the same time punching a third into oblivion. The evil robot had not moved from his spot behind his attacking drones, but Shane expected him to make a grab for Molly as soon as he deemed it safe.

Dustin scanned the ground. They were fighting on an open area in front of a half-built house façade and the earth was loose enough. He dropped to one knee, raised his hands, and a moment later, every rock within a five foot diameter flew up and at the kelzaks closing in on him, pelting the drones with the force of an avalanche. The goons went down like the stones they had just been hit with, and the Earth ninja pumped his fist, grinning. "All right!"

A battle cry off to his left made him turn in time to see Molly flip a kelzak over her shoulder, but two more were closing in on her quickly. They grabbed her arms, and the Air ninja struggled against their hold on her. Dustin was about to sprint to her aid when Molly suddenly managed to bring her hands together before her. An instant later there was a cloud of dust, and the two kelzaks stood now empty-handed where Molly had been just a second ago.

Dustin's eyes bulged. "_Huh?_"

Just then, the ground beneath him vibrated, and Molly burst out of the earth next to him amidst a shower of dirt. She shook herself, and clumps of hard-packed earth were flying from her. "Man, this is no fun," she coughed.

Dustin gaped at her. "Wait a minute," he exclaimed, "you're an Air ninja, how come you know how to do Earth stuff?"

"Uhm, well, I…"

A kelzak jumped into their line of vision, swinging his sword, and Dustin could see a flicker of relief in Molly's face at the intervention before he took a swing at the drone. When he turned back, Molly had already moved off and was busy keeping another one of Lothor's goons at bay. Dustin made a mental note to press the issue later.

A few feet away from him Shane and Tori were taking out their share of attackers with a combination of kicks, punches as well as wind and water attacks. Since they couldn't morph in front of Molly, they had to rely heavily on their elemental powers, but even with the greater numbers of kelzaks, odds were turning in the four Wind ninjas' favor as the ground around them continued to get littered with more and more fallen drones.

Soon there was only Zurgane left, and the alien robot now found himself surrounded by four very angry teens. As they closed in on him, they raised their hands on a silent cue and the black general was suddenly lifted off his feet and spun around by a vortex of such force that made his circuits scream in protest. At the same time he was bombarded by a wall of water laced with rocks. After a minute that seemed to last an eternity, he finally felt the elemental forces subside, and with a crash he landed on his back on the ground.

Four pairs of glaring eyes were hovering over him, and the dark-skinned one spoke first.

"There's no way you are getting your hands on her again, Zurgane," he said. "And you can tell Lothor that we'll get all the other ninjas back, too. It's just a matter of time."

Zurgane's mind went into hyperdrive as he went through and dismissed half a dozen possible responses in the blink of an eye. He decided to counter with the most fitting reply of all: the blatant lie. He let out his most evil cackle. "You hopeless fools! What makes you think that there is anyone left to rescue?" He put as much conviction as possible into his next words. "They're dead; students, teachers…all dead!"

The looks of unconcealed horror that came over the four ninjas' faces were nectar for Zurgane's dark soul.

Molly's hand flew to her mouth, Tori and Dustin looked thunderstruck, and Shane's dark complexion turned a few shades towards the pale side.

Zurgane took advantage of the ninjas' half second of shock and confusion. With a flick of his wrist he produced his alien remote, depressed some buttons, and in the blink of an eye the four teens were surrounded by a fresh wave of kelzaks.

Their heads whipped around, the looks of shock replaced by expressions of alarm.

Zurgane raised himself up on one elbow, the remote ready in his hand, and cackled, "This is far from over, you pests. We'll get _all_ of you in due time."

With that, he punched a button and was instantly sucked into a transportation beam.

The new batch of dones surged forward, the ninjas shook off their grief for now, and the battle began anew.

Dustin, Tori, Shane and Molly fought them as valiantly as before, but the growing exertion from the previous battle was beginning to wear them down.

Three kelzaks descended on Shane, forcing the Air ninja to back off until he suddenly felt raw stone at his back. He turned his head for a split second, getting his bearings.

The kelzaks had backed him into a wall.

Shane wasn't worried; he knew he could take them on and was ready to dish out some punches when suddenly the wall behind him shook.

Molly was gaining confidence with every kelzak she sent flying. _'Pushovers,'_ she thought with a grin as she took out the last of her opponents with a well-placed kick in the gut. She spun around, ready to help out her fellow ninjas when she spotted Shane surrounded by three more of the black and red clad creatures. He had his back to a half-built, freestanding brick wall that seemed to be about eight to ten feet tall – and pretty flimsy-looking. Molly was about to rush to his aid when she noticed three other kelzaks sneaking behind the wall.

Her senses tingling with alarm, she sprinted towards the structure just in time to see the three drones putting all their weight behind a mighty push. The wall gave and started to tilt precariously.

And Shane was too preoccupied to notice the danger behind him.

"Shane!" Molly shouted, picking up her pace, but instinctively she knew she couldn't reach him in time, for the first few bricks were already falling.

_Something's wrong! _The thought splashed through Shane's head a split second before he heard Molly's cry. The perception of danger hit him the same instant as the first cinder block hit the kelzak right in front of him. As the drone went down, things seemed to turn slow-motion: Shane turned his head, dropped to one knee in the process. Instinctively, he brought his hands up at the same time even as a part of his brain recognized the futility of the gesture. A wave of grey was coming towards him, ready to bury him under tons of stone. He jerked his head aside, narrowly avoiding one brick, but a few hundred more were following on the heels of the first and there was no way to dodge them all.

Shane remembered once reading an article about peoples' various reactions the moment before their deaths; what had puzzled him most was the description of the resigned acceptance of death, accompanied by what the author had described as an 'eerie calm'. Back then he hadn't understood, but now, as he felt the same sense of calm come over him, it couldn't have been any clearer to him; there was simply no other way, death was inevitable, what else can you do?

His eyes squeezed shut, he simply waited for the impact - but it never came. After a moment, Shane blinked and dared to look up again.

Death – in form of a solid wall of large cinder blocks – hung not five inches above his face. But the bricks were not moving. Instead they hung motionless, suspended in the air, and Shane couldn't believe his eyes.

Had someone pressed the pause button on time? Or had the laws of gravity suddenly been reversed?

From behind him, a strained voice sounded. "Shane, move!"

Shane turned to see Molly a few feet behind him, her face twisted into an expression that bordered on physical agony. She had her hands held out in front of her, palms showing, and even over the distance Shane could see her arms trembling, as if they held an enormous unseen weight. And suddenly, understanding hit him; Molly was holding up the wall solely with the strength of her mind.

Shane scrambled to get his feet under him, then half-ran, half-lunged sideways and to safety. He hit the ground just as the deafening roar of tons of bricks crashing downwards momentarily drowned out all other noises. Coughing, Shane turned his head and could only watch helplessly as Molly sank to her knees, then toppled over into the dust, unconscious.

_**TBC…**_


	6. Chapter 6

Darkness turned into shadows, silence turned into an unintelligible murmur of voices.  
Molly felt like a diver slowly coming up to the surface from the bottom of the ocean. Her eyelids felt glued shut, but after an infinite amount of time she managed to blink.

"Hey, welcome back," a familiar voice sounded softly from just outside of her peripheral vision. She turned her head, but Shane's face was but a dark blur hovering over her. She squinted her eyes, and something was pushed into her view.

"Here, try this."

Molly smiled weakly while she adjusted the glasses Shane had just placed onto her nose.

When she looked up this time, she could see Shane's grin clearly.

"Oh man, what happened? Where am I?" she asked while she looked around awkwardly, slowly taking note of her surroundings as far as her current reclined position allowed her. She was lying on a couch in the corner of a rather large room with no windows. The illumination came from several fluorescent lighting fixtures hanging from the stone ceiling. _Stone?_

Shane was hunched forward on the edge of a low rectangular table before her. She sensed that Shane and she were not the only people in the room, and she was right. Behind Shane, Dustin and Tori were making their way over to the couch with two unfamiliar young men in tow. Molly assumed them to be the Thunder ninjas. The shorter, dark-haired one stayed just a bit too close to Tori's side, and even through her lingering headache, Molly could feel the strong vibes between the two.

The taller, imposing-looking one had brilliant blue, yet wary eyes, and judging from his shaggy mop of dirty-blond hair, was obviously completely unfamiliar with the concept of a comb. As they gathered around her, her hunch was confirmed when she saw the unknown insignias on the jackets of their leather uniforms.

"Finally. You're up," the Earth ninja grinned down at her. "We thought we would have to break out the smelling salts in a few minutes."

"Or one of Dustin's used socks, whichever would have worked better," Tori quipped.

Molly made a face while she sat up slowly. "I think I'd prefer the smelling salt," she said with a feeble grin, and looked at the two Thunder ninjas. "Blake and Hunter, I take it?"

Blake nodded, a friendly half-smile on his face. "Yeah. I'm Blake and he's Hunter. My brother."

Molly's eyes darted between the two. "Of course," she remarked dryly while she sat up a little straighter. "The family resemblance is striking."

That earned her a crooked smirk from Hunter. "Hey, I like her," he said to Blake as they all settled themselves at various spots around the couch and the table. Immediately, Molly was once again struck by the perception of _color_ emanating not only from Shane this time, but off every one of the ninjas. And the vibes were much stronger now, in this place. True, they were all wearing their training uniforms with their respective color trims, but Molly instinctively knew that _that just wasn't it! _

_But what was it, then?_ So many questions…

Now that she was sitting up, she once again took in the stone walls and the lack of windows, voicing her conclusion."It feels like we're underground or something."

"Ah, actually we are," Shane replied, sounding somewhat awkward. "This is Cam's place. I was worried when we couldn't rouse you after the fight, and this was the only safe place we could think of bringing you." He waved his hand in a small arch, a slightly sheepish expression on his face. "Welcome to Ninja Ops."

Molly's eyebrows rose. "Ninja Ops…? Are you saying that this is a headquarters of some sort? What kind of…Whoa!" Molly was stopped short by the sudden sight of Ninja Ops' supercomputer that took up the entire far side of the cave. Next to her Shane just shrugged, obviously too used to the sight to be impressed anymore. "Oh, that? Yeah, Cam sure loves his high-tech toys."

Molly half-laughed, half-snorted. "Toys? The man could run a small sovereign country from down here."

Dustin laughed. "Don't let him hear you say that; he'd insist on us calling him 'King Cam' from now on."

"Maybe I should – that way I might finally get some respect around here," a voice sounded from behind them and an Asian man stepped around the couch, a glass of water and some aspirin in his hand, which he promptly handed to Molly without any further comment. Apparently he knew just what she would need after coming to.

Although Molly had only seen Cam Watanabe two or three times at the Academy, and then only from a distance, she recognized him right away. Nodding her thanks, she accepted the pills and the glass from him, downing it in two gulps.

Cam's uniform was yet another puzzle. The design fit in with the rest of the group's, but Molly couldn't remember ever having seen a green trim before. Or the five-pointed star insignia on his chest. Did he belong to a ninja academy she didn't know of?

Molly added those questions to her ever-growing mental list of questions to be asked later.

"How are you feeling?" Cam inquired and Molly considered that for a moment.

"Rehydrated," she said. "Thanks."

Cam gave her a sympathetic smile as if he had known her all her life and pointed at the glass. "You want another one?"

"No, thank you." Suddenly Molly let out a sigh. "This is embarrassing. I've never fainted before."

"Have you ever held up something the size of that wall before?" Cam asked and Molly shook her head.

"Uh, no. And I doubt I'll be able to do it again. I think this was adrenaline-induced."

"Then I'd say that's a legitimate excuse to faint," the technician concluded.

"Not to mention you did it so elegantly," Shane quipped.

Molly gave him a half-amused, half-exasperated look, but suddenly Shane turned serious and leaned a bit closer to her. For a brief moment it seemed as if he was about to take her hand, but restrained himself. "And in the process you saved my life. I owe you one."

She was quick to shake her head. "No, you don't. If you guys hadn't come to my rescue when that robot was after me, I'd be stuck on that spaceship now." Molly's expression was grave. "Or dead, like the others."

Shane's reaction was immediate. "Molly, don't believe a word Zurgane said back there. He's not exactly playing on our team, you know."

The look Molly gave him in response was less than convinced, and this time Shane actually _did_ reach out and take her hand. "We will find them and get them back somehow, so try not to worry, ok?"

"Shane's right," Cam chimed in. "Instead of worrying you should try to rest some more. Dad always said that any sudden surge of psychic energy puts a great strain on the body." He said it quite matter-of-factly, but at the mention of his father Molly suddenly felt the profound need to say something, _anything_ to him that would give him at least a modicum of comfort at the temporary loss of his dad; _if_ such a thing was actually possible in his situation.

"Cam, I'm so sorry about your father," she began. "I hope he's all right on that space ship, and if there's anything I can do…"

Cam scratched his head and an awkward look crossed his face. "Uhm, Molly, about my dad…" he began when suddenly a voice sounded from behind him.

"Thank you, I am touched by your concern, Molly, but let me assure you that I am quite all right indeed."

Molly frowned in confusion and looked around quizzically, her eyes finally settling back on Cam, but when the Asian man wordlessly took a step aside, revealing the source of the voice behind him, her eyes went wide with disbelief. On what looked like a miniature meditation pagoda set up on a motorized wagon stood a guinea pig, dressed in the grey teacher's robes of the Wind Academy and holding a miniature wooden staff.

Apart from the fact that this was as surreal as any scene from a comic book, Molly was even more startled at the familiar vibes that immediately hit her. The same she had always felt in Sensei Watanabe's company, and the same she had been sorely missing for the past few months.

"S…Sensei?" Molly croaked nevertheless, incredulity written all over her face.

The guinea pig inclined his head gracefully. "It is good to see you again, Molly. I understand this must all seem quite strange to you, but we will explain – in due time."

For a long moment, Molly simply stared until she remembered her manners. She shook her head slightly, rubbing her temples. "I think I need to lie down again."

Shane leaned forward, concern clearly on his face. "You're gonna be all right?"

She nodded as she leaned back into the back of the couch. "Yeah, eventually. No need to take off your socks, Dustin."

The Earth ninja just grinned. Sensei took that moment to somersault from the pagoda mobile and landed gracefully and sure-footedly on Molly's left knee. Molly reached out with one finger and gingerly poked the guinea pig in its midsection. "My god, you really _are_ real," she whispered, her initial bewilderment slowly changing to amazement. "What happened to you, Sensei?"

"That would take some time to explain," answered the Wind teacher.

"I've got all the time in the world to listen."

"Very well, then…" Sensei settled himself on Molly's knee while the rest of the gang leaned forward as if hearing Sensei Watanabe's fantastic tale of transformation for the first time.

_**TBC…**_

_A/N: A shorter chapter this time, but the next one will be longer, I promise_.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Spoilers for "Sensei Switcheroo" in this chapter. _

"…and this is how I came to be stuck in the form you see before you now," the guinea pig finished his account twenty minutes later. Molly's celadon eyes had darkened to the shade of emerald green. Her hands were curled into fists in her lap.

"I really didn't like this Lothor guy before, but now…" she hissed through her teeth, but her eyes were sorrowful when she looked at him. "So how do you plan on, you know, getting back to normal?"

"I am hoping the situation will get rectified when we have managed to capture Lothor," Sensei said, but even to her own ears this plan did not sound very hopeful.

The guinea pig sighed. "Until then I have no choice but to, as my students say, _go with the flow_."

A suddenly impatient Dustin now turned to Molly. "Ah, in the meantime, can we talk about this Earth ninja thing you did back there? I mean…I figured you had some ground-breaking talents, with you being psychic and all, but I didn't think it was literal."

"Yeah, well, it's not something I like to advertise," Molly said quietly, almost demure.

"What about water?" Tori suddenly asked and Molly looked up at her. The Water ninja's eyes were narrowed as if she was already pretty sure of the answer. Molly hesitated for a heartbeat, cast a quick glance at Sensei, then, in lieu of an answer, cupped her palms into a ball. When she slowly moved them apart, a blue water sphere the size of a baseball floated suspended between her hands.

Molly was profusely aware of six humans and one guinea pig staring at her as she moved the sphere over the empty water glass, then let it pop, filling the glass precisely to the top.

"I've never heard of any ninja who could control all three elements," Dustin said into the ensuing silence of the cave, his voice hushed with awe, whereas Shane just peered at her, a new respect in his eyes.

But it was Sensei who replied. "There aren't any. Molly is presently the only one." The tiny teacher glanced at Molly. "I see you've been practicing."

The girl nodded, and when she finally looked up to face the rest of the astonished team, she looked downright embarrassed. "I didn't tell you because I know it's against the rules of the Wind ninja academy to control more than one element."

"As I have told you during our last meditation session before the school was attacked, this rule is not written in stone, Molly," Sensei said.

"No, it's written on the Scroll of Law hanging in the main hall at the Wind Academy," she countered, but Sensei graciously ignored the sarcasm.

"I'm referring to the fact that this rule exists merely to protect the mental capacities of the Wind ninja students." Sensei looked around, making sure he had the complete attention of his entire group. "When the academy was first established, many ninjas aimed to control more than one elemental power, but in most cases, the elements proved to be too demanding on those who strove to master them. Most students could not contain them in harmony within their bodies and minds, thus creating elemental conflicts within themselves that often met with undesirable ends."

"Ah, what kind of _ends_ are we talking about, Sensei?" Shane wanted to know.

"In many instances, the element, or elements, started to control the student. The results were…insanity, self-destruction. That's why more than one element should not be controlled by one who is not mentally up to the task." Sensei turned to Molly. "But this is not the case with you."

"Uhm, what about Thunder powers?" Hunter interjected, and Molly shook her head. "Haven't tried my hands on those yet. Only Wind Academy elements."

Hunter nodded solemnly, but not before Molly caught the complacent expression that came over his face for the briefest of moments.

"Still, I think it's pretty awesome what you can do," Dustin said enthusiastically. He put his hands together, mimicking her earlier water sphere gesture. "I wish I could do that," he said with a wistful expression – until Tori punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Please, you can barely do your own thing," the Water ninja quipped with a grin. "How many times have we had to pull you out of the ground when you got stuck practicing your Earth move?"

"Hey," the brunet pouted, "it's not like I haven't had to pull _you _out of the pond a few dozen times…"

The volume of their sudden bicker session rose a few notches when Blake and Hunter joined in with a few anecdotes of their own. Shane was about to add his two-cents-worth when his gaze fell on Molly. She was sitting with her hands in her lap, a solemn expression on her face, clearly not hearing any of this. He touched her shoulder lightly.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I…I was just thinking…" She began to twist her hands in her lap. "My psychic powers, my elemental powers…what good are they all? None of them have helped with locating the students, and now it may be too late!"

Shane's chest rose and fell in a resolute sigh, his forehead creasing into a thoughtful frown. "You still think they're dead?"

Molly's frustration was evident. "I don't know, Shane. I don't know what to think. I mean, how can we be _sure_ they're not?"

They were interrupted by a strange sound which was obviously familiar to Shane for he turned to Sensei right away. And Molly realized that it had been their teacher clearing his throat. The guinea pig was looking at them thoughtfully.

"There might be a way to reassure ourselves of their wellbeing, but I would need your help with this task, Molly." His eyes traveled to Shane. "And yours, too, most likely."

"Sure, Sensei," the Air ninja replied. "Whatever you need."

Sensei gave him a grateful nod and continued, "Since the attack, I've tried several times to establish a mental connection with any of the missing Wind teachers – as well as head teacher Omino. Needless to say, I have not been successful. I do not know whether this is because their present locations are simply too far for my mind to reach them, or whether I am hampered by my guinea pig form. But I'm starting to believe that it is a combination of both." He fixed Shane and Molly with a steady gaze. "And that's where you two come in."

Ninja Ops had gone quiet as the rest of the team inched closer to listen.

"I believe that, to make the strongest mental connection, Human physiology would be most advantageous for me," Sensei went on. "I conclude this because I have felt a definite increase in my mental powers during our chain of, ah, interexchange issues a few weeks ago."

Molly's eyebrows drew together in puzzlement, but apparently Shane knew what their teacher was talking about, for he only nodded. "Sensei, does it matter which body?"

"I do not think so, Shane."

Shane only hesitated for a brief moment. "Well, if that's the case, then I'm willing to trade, Sensei."

"Are you sure about that?" the guinea pig inquired.

Shane gave a seemingly casual shrug. "Hey, we've done this before, so I already know what to expect. Plus, it's only for a little while, right?"

By now officially and completely lost, Molly followed the strange conversation between teacher and student with her eyes. And judging from the unperturbed demeanor of the others, the rest of the ninjas also seemed to know exactly what Shane and Sensei were referring to. Molly caught Tori's eye, and the Water ninja leaned towards her.

"We had a little issue a few weeks ago when Cam believed he might have found a way to transform Sensei back into his human form…" Tori went on to relay the events of that failed experiment, and Molly's eyes went wide once more.

"Hold up, you mean Sensei and Shane really switched bodies?" she exclaimed and threw Shane an unbelieving look. Shane half-shrugged, half-nodded in affirmation. "Actually, it was me and Dustin."

"And I've had to hide the guinea pig food from Dustin ever since," Cam remarked dryly, ignoring the face the Earth ninja promptly made at him.

Molly looked simply stunned. "This day is getting weirder by the minute," she mumbled.

Meanwhile, Sensei turned to Cam, speaking in a low voice. Cam nodded and typed a few commands into his computer console that caused a section of the wall to the left of the supercomputer to retract, revealing a rather large machine with an adjoining pedestal.

While Shane took up position on the pedestal, Sensei addressed Molly. "I believe that together we might be able to increase the output of our mental energies sufficiently to reach one of the Wind teachers on Lothor's ship."

Molly nodded in agreement, and if Sensei's request surprised her in any way, she didn't show it. "If there's even a slight possibility of success, I'll give it my best try, Sensei," she said determinedly.

The guinea pig was apparently pleased with this answer, for he gave her a smile. "Then we will try in a few moments."

He hopped onto the surface of Cam's machine, and a hushed silence descended over the room as Cam connected his samurai amulet with the machine's energy enhancer. A hollow humming ensued, and suddenly, pale green light encircled Shane on his pedestal. It joined with Sensei's guinea pig form, and for several more moments the humming continued until, abruptly, the entire process simply…stopped.

Molly wasn't sure what she had expected, but she was pretty sure it would have been a little more spectacular than that. Her astonishment returned full force, however, when Shane stepped off the pedestal. His demeanor had changed; he stood straighter and when he turned to her, the expression on his face was almost regal. But his voice was the final confirmation.

"Well, then, I believe that concludes the preparations for our imminent task." There was no mistake that Sensei Watanabe was speaking to her from within Shane's body, and Molly's eyes flickered to the subdued-looking guinea pig who was just leaping from Cam's machine and onto the miniature pagoda.

"Can you guys please make this fast?" Shane said, scratching his now furry head with one paw while with the other he took a half-hearted swing at Blake who was teasing him with a stick of guinea pig food.

Molly gave him a compassionate look while she let Sensei lead her towards the middle of the room.

"Hey, Sensei, do you still have that mini skate ramp somewhere?" Shane called from the pagoda mobile and Sensei smiled benignly. "I'm sorry, Shane, but after my first few disastrous attempts on the real ramp, I realized that skate-boarding is not for me, whether in human or guinea pig form."

Barely suppressed chuckles could be heard from the assembled Wind and Thunder ninjas in the background, and Molly turned to her now-human teacher. "_You_ went skate-boarding, Sensei?" she smirked, and Sensei Watanabe's temporary dark face managed to hold on to a dignified look. "I'm sure that you'll hear about _that _story sooner than later, but for now let's focus on the task at hand."

The mood in the room quickly turned serious again as Molly and Sensei settled themselves on the floor of Ninja Ops in the meditative positions of the Wind Academy. They were facing each other, knees touching, and as soon as Sensei took her hands into his, she felt his all-too familiar presence wash over her. The calming effect he had always had on her took over once again and she felt herself relax, her mind focusing almost out of its own accord. But then she looked down at their clasped hands and suddenly wondered how it would be to actually hold _Shane's_ hands. True, they were his, but it was really Sensei she was holding on to. She threw a surreptitious glance at Shane's temporary guinea pig form watching them from the miniature pagoda. _Hopefully, when all this is over…_

Sensei's voice snapped her back into reality. "Are you ready to begin?"

Molly blinked and willed her head to clear of everything but the impending melding of their minds. Sensei's grip on her hands tightened, and she closed her eyes. Sight was no longer necessary from this point on.

"Remember our meditation sessions," she heard her teacher's soft voice. "Open your mind to mine; let our energies combine. Visualize the Wind Academy, your teachers, your kata sessions, your Air element lessons, anything familiar. Let the soothing routines fill your mind. And just…breathe."

Both teacher and student sat immobile, concentrating on centering themselves and focusing their energies - and suddenly, as if someone had flipped a switch, she was afloat, her mind surging upwards on a powerful mental current, higher and higher, all the while joining with the unseen yet familiar force of Sensei's energy. Together they continued to rise upwards, supporting each other, their minds expanding outward, searching, calling to anyone sensitive enough to pick up their psychic vibrations. Molly wasn't sure how long they were adrift; it could have been seconds or minutes.

And then they touched a mind.

It was a weak contact at best, surrounded by what can only be described as turbulence, but it was definitely a familiar mind they had grazed – or at least it was familiar to Sensei Watanabe. She felt his exhilaration and re-doubled her efforts to maintain contact with the presence while he called out with his mind.

'_Sensei Omino, is that you, old friend?'_

It took a moment, but then the responding vibes hit them both simultaneously.

**_'Kanoi? Kanoi Watanabe?'_**

'_Yes, my friend. Focus your mind, we might not be able to maintain contact for long.'_

Almost immediately, the connection strengthened, but only minimally. **_'Where are you? Have you escaped capture?'_**

Sensei's mental voice was strong and calm. _'I am all right. I and four Wind ninjas as well as my son have all escaped the attack. And Blake and Hunter are with us, too. They are unhurt and safe.'_

A surge of joy came from Sensei Omino before he spoke. **_'That is a great relief to hear! I am in your debt for looking after them, old friend.'_**

A sudden surge of mental turbulence crashed between them, and Molly and Sensei struggled to re-establish their link with the Thunder teacher. When they felt the mind touch again, Sensei asked, '_Is there anything you can tell me about your situation that might facilitate your rescue?'_

_**'I'm afraid I cannot.'**_ A note of frustration became evident in Omino's mental voice. _**'I know little more than what our abductor had boasted about to us when we first arrived on his ship. A most disingenuous individual, this Lothor.'**_

'_Fear not, old friend, for we will find a way of bringing you back, I promise,' _Sensei assured him. '_Are your teachers and students all right? What of the Wind ninjas?'_

_**'As far as I know, everyone is well. We….re being….held in…..idual bubbles of….ome sort. Commu...tricky at…est.'**_

The psychic disturbances around Molly and Sensei were getting distinctly more forceful now, and when another powerful turbulence separated their connection once again, it was for good. Sensei's mind touched hers and she sensed his intention to withdraw. She was about to protest, but her teacher was adamant. _'We have achieved what we have set out to do, but now it is not safe around here anymore. We must retreat.'_

And with that he pulled her back, away from the link and the psychic turmoil that was building up all around them; back to the sanctuary of their own bodies.

At Ninja Ops, the six Rangers weren't even trying to make idle conversation; they simply sat, or in Cam's case, paced around the room, throwing occasional glances at the two kneeling ninjas on the floor. Molly and Sensei could have been statues; at one point, Cam actually approached them, visually checking for any signs of respiration. He was relieved to see them breathing, albeit shallowly. All they could do was wait as long as it took and hope for some positive results.

The feeling of _change _came into the air without warning, and instinctively they all looked towards the two motionless figures. Sensei stirred, and a small tremor running between his shoulder blades was his only movement, whereas across from him Molly suddenly jerked. Her eyes flew open and she took in a long breath of air not unlike a drowning man at the same time as she tumbled forward. Sensei caught her and held on to her, pulling her halfway into his lap until she had regained her poise.

For a moment Molly luxuriated in the feeling of Shane's strong arms around her until she remembered with a start that it was actually really _Sensei_ who was holding her. Grinning somewhat abashed, she pushed herself back into a sitting position and ran a shaky hand through her hair. "Wow, what a ride!"

Across from her, Sensei/Shane smiled at her. The next moment they were surrounded by five human and one pet ninja, all talking at once, eager to hear about their venture.

_**Meanwhile…**_

At the same time, Mara and Kapri were huddled together in the hallway outside the bridge of their uncle's space ship, listening to the dead silence that came from behind the closed doors.

The pink-haired girl turned to her sister. "Do you think it's a good or a bad sign that it is so quiet?"

Mara shrugged. "Well, he stopped yelling about ten minutes ago, so by now he is either asleep or well into disassembling Zurgane."

"I hope not," Kapri said. "That robot still owes me twenty bucks."

The two girls looked at each other one more time, then curiosity got the better of them and they walked forward, crossing the threshold between the opening doors carefully.

Lothor was slouched on his throne, his chin in his hand, staring out at nothing. Mara and Kapri knew this look only too well – it meant that the gears inside their uncle's head were turning, churning out another evil plan.

General Zurgane was nowhere to be seen. The girls inched forward, putting on two silly grins when Lothor's frowning gaze settled on them.

"Hi, Uncle."

"We, ah, just wanted to check on you. You know, make sure you are all right and stuff..."

Lothor just snorted. "Yeah, right. If you two are looking for Zurgane, he's not here. He'll be busy for the next few days."

"Uhm, doing what, Uncle?" Mara dared to ask.

Lothor shifted his weight in his seat, popping his chin onto this other hand. He seemed eerily calm. "He's doing extra duty as punishment for his latest failure. Right about now he should be floating outside the space ship, cleaning its entire outer hull – with a toothbrush."

Mara leaned towards Kapri and whispered, "I hope you're not in a hurry to get your twenty bucks back."

Lothor let out an exasperated sigh. "In the meantime, I've decided it's time to go back to my roots, girls."

"But Uncle, I didn't even know that that wasn't your real hair color!" Kapri exclaimed, staring at her relative's long, black tresses sticking out from the back of his leather mask. "Are you gonna dye it?"

Lothor rolled his eyes and just shook his head. "My roots as in _my original plan!_ World domination, universal chaos and the spread of global evil! And let's not forget - _to destroy the Power Rangers, you pea-brains!" _

"Ohhhh, that!" came the dual reply.

"Yes, that! And since everyone's incompetence yields me nothing but migraines, I am going to initiate my latest plan myself." Lothor gripped the armrests of his chair, ready to get up.

Mara and Kapri first stared at each other wide-eyed, then at their uncle. "You're gonna do it yourself? Personally? Alone? Just you?"

"With the help of this here. Been working on it for months now," the evil space ninja said, pulling a small rainbow-colored CD from out of his leather coat. Twirling it between his fingers, he stood at last and slowly descended the few steps leading to his throne. The two girls were around him in an instant.

"Oh, pretty."

"What's it do?"

Lothor smiled like a shark. "You'll see for yourselves really soon, my dears."

_**TBC…**_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Some mild slash references in the next few chapters, so if you are not comfortable with this subject, just skip over those parts; they're not essential to the storyline. _

Back in Ninja Ops - having finished their report of the encounter with Sensei Omino - Sensei Watanabe and Shane were once again poised in their respective positions on their pedestals next to Cam's machine, ready to receive the energy surge that would transport them back into their rightful bodies. The atmosphere in Ninja Ops was downright jubilant; especially between Blake and Hunter, who hadn't stopped grinning ever since they heard the news about the successful contact with their head teacher.

Cam flipped a switch, and the lambent green light bathed them immediately, effectively changing things back to the way they were.

Shane patted his leather-clad chest with both hands. "Man, it's good to be back," he said, looking pleased as he stepped off the pedestal and Molly was glad to hear the right voice coming from its corresponding body once again. He came towards her and his smile faltered a bit as his eyes met hers. Apparently their mental voyage into space had left her looking paler than she thought.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Molly cast a quick glance back at Cam's machine. "You mean apart from the fact that I've just watched you guys make the Twilight Zone look like Sesame Street? Twice? Sure!"

Shane let out a laugh at her underlying sarcasm, and to Molly's surprise he spontaneously put his arms around her to envelope her in a relieved hug. Unfortunately, he let go again way too fast. Molly hid her disappointment behind a grin.

"This has got to be the strangest day of my life," she said, and her lips twitched again as she gazed at Shane. "But I'm sure glad to see you back in your body."

"Me, too," Shane replied. "It hadn't been much fun the first time, and it wasn't much fun now, either." Then his face lightened up. "But hey, we got some good results, so it was definitely worth having fur for a little while."

They smiled at each other and Molly embraced the warm feeling that spread through her.

"So…are there any more surprises I should prepare myself for?" she asked half-teasingly while they turned to join Sensei and Tori who were talking animatedly by the low command table. Shane shook his head, a carefully blank look on his face.

"Ah, no," he said, but it didn't sound convincing enough.

"Good," she said nevertheless. "Because I think I've had enough of those for one day."

Tori rose as they approached. "I was just telling Sensei, that was a great job you two did back there," she said with an appreciative smile.

Molly waved off the compliment. "Thanks, but it was mostly Sensei's doing. I was just along for the ride."

"Not true, Molly," Sensei countered. "You played an important part in this contact and I am grateful for your help."

Molly beamed at the guinea pig before she turned towards Tori. "All that's happened this past hour is playing a number on my bladder," she murmured. "Is there a bathroom around here?"  
"Yeah, I'll show you," the blonde girl said, and with a parting smile to Shane, Molly followed the Water ninja to the far side of the control room that led to Cam's and the Thunder ninjas' living quarters.

When the girls had left the room, Shane plopped down onto one of the cushions strewn around the command table, picked up Dustin's MotoX Magazine and used his newly re-gained human hand to thumb through the pages – until Dustin's voice finally registered.

"Shane. _Shane_!"

"Huh?" He looked up to see his best friend grinning down on him.

"You're humming, dude," the brunet boy said.

"No, I wasn't," Shane replied automatically, but Dustin just turned his head and looked pointedly at Hunter, who was standing next to him. The Thunder Ranger nodded.

"Yes, you were."

Shane went for the casual shrug. "All right, maybe I was. What's it to you guys?"

Dustin continued to look down on him with a bemused expression. "You only hum after you've won a skate demo, or after you've managed to get the number of some girl that you like. And since I remember you only coming in third at the last demo…"

"You _had_ to go there, didn't ya," the Red Ranger grumbled and pretended to turn his attention back to the magazine. But the intense gazes of his teammates wouldn't let up and with a sigh he looked back up. "What?"

"You're such an open book, dude," Hunter grinned.

Feigning exasperation, Shane shook his head, studying the ridges in the wood of the tabletop; otherwise he would have seen the knowing look that passed between his two friends.

"Not me, dudes. But I have this friend…" he told the tabletop.

"That would be you," Hunter quipped.

Shane ignored him. "And my _friend_ likes this girl…"

"That would be Molly," Dustin said, managing to keep a surprisingly straight face.

Now Shane didn't have to feign his exasperation as he glared at his two friends. "You know, you two take the whole fun out of being insecure."

Hunter and Dustin moved on some unseen cue, both lowering themselves into the cushions on the opposite side of the command table at the exact same time. Hunter's face suddenly turned serious.

"Shane, if you like Molly, why don't you just ask her out?"  
"I don't know…what if something happens and I make a complete idiot out of myself…" Shane stared unseeingly at the magazine page before him.

Dustin just shrugged. "Dude, you do that every day, what else is new?"

Shane didn't even grace him with a reply. "Or what if she doesn't like me?"

"Hey, I've seen the way she looks at you when you're not looking," the Yellow Ranger said softly. "She likes you, trust me."

"Just go for it, man," Hunter added, nodding vigorously. "'cause if you won't, you're just gonna end up doing this whole _'what if'_ thing after you've missed your chance…"

The sound of approaching footsteps brought an abrupt end to the conversation as Tori and Molly re-appeared in the doorway.

Ever since the brief but successful contact, Molly's mood had improved significantly and she showed it by sporting a big grin as she sank down onto the pillow next to Shane. "All right, so now that we've proven Zurgane wrong once and for all…what do you guys do for fun around here?" she asked.  
Hunter shrugged. "Oh, we basically just hang around here and annoy Cam."

"And that's fun for them, believe me," Cam remarked from halfway across the room.

Shane spread his hands. "But mostly we get together here and plot our great, big rescue plan."

"Yeah, if we can ever think of one," came Blake's sarcastic comment while slumping down next to his brother.

"We'll think of one," Dustin said. "Our great leader here will come up with something eventually." He clapped Shane on the back, then froze when the dark Air ninja's sharp glare made him realize what he just said. _Oops!_

"Leader?" Molly echoed, "Leader of what? The club of leftover ninjas? Can I join?" Her chuckle sounded more cynical than bemused.

Dustin scratched his head while he racked his brains trying to come up with something to say that would do for damage control. "Ah, well, every group has to have a leader, right? I mean, even a small, motley one like ours."

From across the table, Blake's eyes said '_weak, dude,_' and Dustin winced.

Shane was playing it cool. "Yeah, and _this_ bunch needs an exceptionally strong leader," he smirked and winked at Molly, while all around the table, eyes rolled and a collective '_humph'-ing_ could be heard.

Shane stuck out his chin as he looked into the round. "What? I think I'm a darn good leader. I'm strong, brave, wise…"

Blake laughed. "Dude, I don't know _who_ you're describing…"

"Yeah," Tori joined in, equally chuckling. "I really don't know about that 'wise' thing."

Dustin turned to Molly with a grin. "Like this one time when he had the 'wise' idea to put a basketball hoop up at Ninja Ops when Cam was out of town for a few days…"

Cam, who was sauntering over to join the banter, let out an audible breath. "Oh Jeez, don't remind me."

From the smirks all around Molly concluded that she was about to hear a pretty infamous story.

Shane promptly made an irritated noise in the back of his throat while glaring at Dustin. "Dude, as far as I remember, you had as much fun dunking balls as I had."

"Yeah, but I wasn't the one who missed his shot and ended up shorting out the entire super computer when his ball hit the main console!"

"Aw, come on, so I made one bad shot…"

"One hell of a bad shot!" Hunter interjected, but his frown was only half-hearted. "Dude, we were sitting here in the dark with nothing but candles, and Cam had to streak back all the way from L.A. to fix your mess."

"Hey, I thought all those candles made for a nice atmosphere," Shane said in a weak attempt to salvage some face. All the while Molly just followed the verbal sparring with a bemused expression and an occasional chuckle.

"If you want to call dungeon-like darkness _'atmosphere'_…" Blake complained good-naturedly, and Shane only got an eyerolling in before they were suddenly and rudely interrupted by the blaring sounds of warning klaxons coming from Cam's computer. The technician shot up like a coiled spring whereas Shane just hung his head. "Aw man, not now," he sighed while Cam was already at his console, bringing up the cause of the alarm.

The five ninjas all got up as well, hurrying towards the computer, and Molly, whose curiosity was now piqued, trotted after them.

All fun was instantly forgotten when they saw the scenario that was playing out on the huge screen before them.

After the incident with the Gem of Souls a few months back, Cam had taken to monitoring the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas and the surrounding forest. Now, in a clearing about two hundred yards from the entrance to the Cave of Souls, the usually peaceful scenery showed a monstrous alien Zord of metallic purple and silver, armed with a humongous sword and a laser canon mounted on top of each shoulder. As the seven ninjas and their teacher watched in morbid astonishment, the Zord raised its heavily armored arm, and with one swing of the gigantic sword, cut down a massive pine tree in its wake.

Cam zoomed in on the cockpit and was hardly surprised to find a familiar evil space ninja behind the controls.

"Seems like we have the highly dubious honor of fighting The Man himself," he observed.

"Dude, I didn't know Lothor had his own Zord," Dustin exclaimed, staring at the screen where the giant machine had turned west, towards Blue Bay Harbor, with the obvious intention of causing some serious damage there. Every tree in its path fell victim to either the lasers or the sword, and Cam intentionally left the supercomputer's speaker system off. He was in no mood to hear his uncle's maniacal laughter that now undoubtedly floated through the forest.

The rest of the gang shifted uncomfortably; all were aware of the immediate need to move out, but with Molly here…

Sensei made the decision for them. "You must take care of this threat right away, Rangers, before he reaches the city," the Wind teacher said energetically from his spot next to Cam's keyboard.

Molly's eyebrows rose. "Rangers?"

Shane avoided her questioning gaze by turning to his teacher. "Sensei, should we wait with…you know?" He held up his morpher wrist in emphasis, but Sensei shook his head.

"No Shane, we simply must trust in Molly's discretion now," the tiny teacher replied. "You cannot fight Lothor unmorphed, and especially not while he is in his Zord."

From his seat in front of the computer console Cam added, "Besides, it's not like she could miss watching the battle from here anyways." He waved his hand at the huge computer screen.

Shane just nodded resigned.

"Excuse me, but what are you all talking about?" Molly's voice was beginning to sound annoyed, and from the look on her face Shane could tell she was getting tired of being kept out of the loop. He squared his shoulders and faced her.

"Remember when you said earlier that you had enough surprises for one day?" He gave her a strained grin. "Well, I'm afraid you're in for one more."

He left her standing next to Cam's chair and took up his customary position in front of his team. "Ready?" he called the morph.

"_Ready!"_

"NINJA STORM…"

"THUNDER STORM…"

"RANGER FORM!"

Immediately after the morph, the Red Ranger turned his head to see Molly leaning heavily onto the back of Cam's chair, a hand pressed to her throat, looking utterly thunderstruck. He opened his face-plate and came towards her.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," he said quietly. "I meant to tell you…eventually."

Molly just stared at him.

His eyes flickered briefly to the computer screen and cleared his throat. "Look, when this is all over…"

"Yeah, I know," she cut in, but to his relief he saw the beginnings of a bemused smile creep into her stunned features. "You'll explain later." Molly poked her finger into Shane's red-clad chest. "I _knew_ there was more to this color than just _'an Air ninja thing'_!" she grinned, and Shane smirked back.

"Actually, I was going to formally ask you out, but I guess that'll have to wait until after the battle now."

Molly shook her head incredulously. "You have one hell of a sense of timing, Shane."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"If you mean dinner and an explanation, then – yes."

"Cool! Then I'll try to make this quick," Shane grinned with another quick glance at the scenario on Cam's computer screen.

Unperturbed by Molly's reaction to the Power Rangers' revelation, Cam spoke from his spot in front of the super computer. "I'm activating the Zords for you guys now. You should go right into Megazord formation once you reach Lothor out there." He didn't speak to anyone in particular, so Shane answered for the team.

"Agreed. We better not take any chances with that thing," he said, referring to the Lothorzord that was slowly making its way through the woods and towards the city.

Cam's fingers were flying over the keyboard, releasing the five individual Zords from their stations in the underground bay when he suddenly felt a presence right behind him.

"Damn, that's one big Zord," Hunter said as he leaned over Cam's shoulder, peering at the screen. "I take it you're not coming?"

Cam shook his head. "I better stay here with Molly for now and monitor the battle. But I'll be there if it gets hairy for you." The samurai sensed rather then saw Hunter nod behind him. He felt a gloved hand on his shoulder, and without taking his eyes off the computer screen, he moved his own hand over Hunter's.

"Be careful out there, ok?" he mumbled.

Hunter's hand squeezed his shoulder in response. The exchange had been quick; nevertheless Cam cast an anxious glance around. But the rest of the team was already heading towards the exit, and Molly was too fixated on Shane. No one had noticed their brief display of affection.

A few feet away, Shane gave Molly one last smile before he turned and sprinted after his team to face Lothor.

_**Recollections…**_

Molly stood behind Cam's chair, still somewhat incredulous, as she watched the Rangers' Zords confront Lothor in his monstrous machine, then transform into the Megazord.

It had all suddenly clicked into place: Dustin and Shane's reluctance to talk about the Power Rangers at the mall's food court a few days ago, Dustin's apprehensive vibes every time she brought up the subject - and of course the color auras…

At the same time, Cam was staring at the computer screen, frowning. The Rangers had just completed their transformation while Lothor had just stood by idly, waiting instead of taking advantage of the brief moment when the Rangers' vulnerability during the Megazord transformation sequence was at its greatest.

Not like his uncle to let a good opportunity like that just slip by. Strange, and for some reason he couldn't put his finger on, disquieting. He leaned forward, steepled his fingers and glared hard enough at Lothor's Zord to burn a hole through its body armor.

Until Molly's voice cut through his concentration.

"I seem to recall that on the news they had been showing a sixth Power Ranger lately," the Air ninja said with a sly expression and a pointed look at Cam's green-trimmed uniform. "How come the Green Samurai Ranger's not out there with them?"

"Because someone has to supply them with the necessary equipment during battle," Cam replied evenly, but Molly sensed that he was clearly not happy to still be relegated to the role of tech support despite his new Green Ranger status.

Cam let out a sigh. It was true; he was itching to be an active part of the battle. Some things, however, only he could do - and only from Ninja Ops. Such as dispatching the upgraded Power Disks he was about to transfer to the Rangers in the Magazord. He had a feeling they were going to need them!

_**TBC…**_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: This is a pretty long chapter, because there is so much happening now. Enjoy! _

In the clearing near the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas, the two huge battle machines were facing each other, unmoving. Shane was staring out of the Plexiglas pane of his cockpit, an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine and into the back of his head. What was Lothor waiting for?

The feeling of unease increased. The whole encounter just didn't feel right. Not that any confrontation with Lothor and his minions ever felt right, but this time…

It hit him a moment later. _It was too quiet!_ Normally, every encounter with Lothor or any of his monsters or generals was always accompanied by a slur of taunts, threats or completely 'blown-out-of-proportion' boasting on the aliens' parts.

Not this time. Lothor hadn't said as much as 'hello' when the five Ranger Zords arrived. Nor had he offered any condescending comments during the Megazord formation sequence. Shane concluded therefore that this time it was up to them to make the opening taunt as he reached for the loudspeaker switch.

"Hey, Lothor, that's one _big_ Zord you have there," the Red Ranger said. "I wonder what you're trying to compensate for."

The Megazord reverberated with the laughter of the four other Rangers.

At Ninja Ops, Molly chuckled, and even Cam's mouth quirked.

That finally broke the evil space ninja's silence. "The only thing I'm trying to compensate for is six too many Power Rangers," Lothor hissed and flew into a sudden flurry of pushing buttons and pulling levers, making his giant sword crash down onto the Megazord's chest. The Rangers blocked a second slash while bringing up their own blade, and for a few long moments, the two huge machines exchanged parries, punches and kicks.

At Ninja Ops, a vision suddenly burst before Molly's mental eyes. The scene was quick but intense – the perception of smoke, screeching metal and fear filled her mind, making her gasp. But it was over too fast to make any coherent sense out of it. She couldn't even tell which Zord would be hit.

"Cam…" she said faintly, but didn't get any further as on the screen before them, the Lothorzord's fist slammed into the Megazord's shoulder, causing the Rangers' battle machine to stumble. Lothor seized his opportunity and aimed his shoulder lasers, blasting the Rangers with twin beams of purple energy. One of them went awry over the Megazord's shoulder. The other one hit its mark dead on – right into the Crimson Ranger's cockpit. The Plexiglas pane instantly disintegrated into a million pieces as sparks and smoke engulfed the cabin. The crackle of small explosions was loud – but Hunter's scream was even louder.

"_NO!_" Cam yelled, halfway out of his seat. And as shocked as Molly was by the sight of the damage the laser had caused, she involuntarily took a step back from the nearly overpowering vibes of fear she perceived from Cam. The technician was ready to freak out, but Molly was perplexed at the sheer amount of anxiety pouring from him. True, Hunter was part of the team, but…

"Hunter!" Cam shouted over the intercom, "Can you hear me? Come in!"

This time the vibes were strong and clear, and Molly's eyes narrowed as understanding suddenly dawned on her. She shot Cam a surreptitious glance.

_Sensei Watanabe's son and the Thunder ninja! Talk about bridging cultural differences._

If the situation hadn't been so grim, she would have smiled to herself.

Instead, Molly let her mind expand, her senses penetrating the dust and debris of the Crimson Ranger's cockpit, until her mind brushed his. The mental connection lasted only a moment, but it told her what she needed to know. She clasped Cam's shoulder firmly to get his attention. "Cam, he's all right; don't worry," she said and the conviction in her voice made Cam stop his frantic typing to look up at her.

They locked eyes for a moment, and with a start Cam realized that she _knew_. Cam wasn't sure how to feel about that. So far he and Hunter hadn't told anyone but Blake about their feelings for each other, but of course with her powers Molly had probably sensed their affection right from the start.

The intercom crackled, and Cam closed his eyes at the sound of Hunter's shaky voice.

"I'm okay," the Crimson Ranger coughed. "Guess I ducked fast enough." There was a short pause before an awkward "Aw man, what a mess!" came through the intercom and Molly wasn't sure whether Hunter was talking about the state of his cockpit or the potential state of his suit pants. She had no doubt that the Thunder ninja was a brave warrior, but _this_ had been a direct hit, after all.

Cam had resumed his speed-typing again. "Looks like you're out of commission, Hunter. I'm re-routing your remaining controls to Blake. Just sit back and for crying out loud, _don't try to mess with anything_!" Then he grumbled to himself, "Great. There goes another day of Zord-fixing. Again!"

Molly tried not to grin at the technician's attempt to look and sound annoyed, for she could clearly sense just how relieved he was that Hunter was okay.

Back in his own Zord, encouraged by the lucky shot he got off, Lothor cackled loudly. "All right, you puppies, enough with the fun and games. Time to get serious." He inserted the rainbow-colored CD into the hard drive of his cockpit's computer and punched in several commands. Once more he cackled in gleeful anticipation, then commanded his machine to advance on the Megazord.

Half of Shane's mind was still on the situation in the Crimson Ranger's cockpit and on his teammate's welfare, otherwise he would have reacted to Lothor's charge much sooner. As it was, though, he suddenly found himself face to face with his archenemy's Zord, which was now way too close for comfort. Shane flinched and a strangled _'whoah'_ escaped his throat while he struggled to get the Megazord's sword up in defense. But Lothor was faster. The alien Zord's arm shot out, steel fingers encircling the metal throat of the Rangers' Zord with vice-like strength. The Rangers' frantic attempts to dislocate the alien limb had no effect; the two machines were almost chest to chest with no room between them to maneuver.

"Now, you pathetic little fools," the evil ninja roared triumphantly, "the end of your Power Ranger era begins!" And with that, he hit a large, purple button in the control console before him.

Almost instantly, a humming sound ensued and the Lothorzord's arm began to vibrate. The humming seemed to travel down the length of the arm, into the metallic fingers – and from there on straight into the Megazord. The subsequent reaction stunned the Rangers, and, back at Ninja Ops, shot a spike of fear into Cam's heart.

It began as a wild spectacle of blinking lights on every console of every Rangers' respective Zord.

"Whoah, what's going on?" Dustin exclaimed. "Cam?"

"Hey, my controls aren't responding anymore," came Blake's alarmed voice at the same time as Tori's "Guys, what's happening?"

Cam was typing and hitting command buttons at the same time, his brows deeply creased. "Already on it, hold on."

A small part of the supercomputer's huge screen now ran what appeared to be continuous lines of code and as Cam stared at the seemingly random letters that ran rapidly down the screen he suddenly gasped. "Jeez!"

"Cam, what is it?" Molly's heart began to pound in response to the perception of shock she received from Cam, but the Asian man had already turned to his keyboard again, his typing speed increasing as he hit keys in such rapid succession that Molly was getting dizzy just watching. At the same time he spoke into the intercom, his voice now laced with urgency. "Guys, shut down all systems _immediately_! Lothor is…"

The Megazord went dark. Cam's face fell. "Oh god, no."

On the screen, the Megazord was now stock-still. The Rangers inside were still pushing buttons and punching commands in their now lightless cabins, gesticulating, but no sounds came over the intercom. Cam switched the communications to direct contact with their helmets. This made their voices sound thinner, but at least Molly and Cam could still hear them.

"Cam, what's happening?"

"The controls are dead, dude. Now _nothing's_ working here anymore!"

"I don't get it! _What's going on?_"

"The entire system's off-line. Cam!"

Cam was punching buttons like a man possessed and Molly felt a pang of helplessness. All she could do was watch while Cam was trying to salvage the situation.

"I don't believe it. Lothor has corrupted the Megazord's systems." The technician pulled up yet another separate screen of code, but to Molly the lines of symbols, numbers and letters looked unlike anything she had ever seen.

"What? How?" came several shocked cries from the Megazord. An instant later, Lothor finally released his hold on the Rangers' machine's neck, backing off two steps as if to inspect his work. Nauseating laughter suddenly sounded from the intercom.

"Ha! And now the real fun begins, Rangers!"

One mighty swing with the Lothorzord's sword was all it took. The Megazord went down in a heap of screeching metal and the reverberations of its impact with the ground shook the entire surrounding area. The cries of the five Rangers inside seemed to be bouncing off the walls of Ninja Ops as they filtered through Cam's intercom system. It sliced right into Molly's heart and she pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle the agonized moan swelling in the back of her throat.

Cam was more in control of his exclamations, but he looked equally stricken as he hit the big red button on his keyboard. "Guys! Are you all right?"

Assorted groans and moans were the only answers at first, but then one by one all the Rangers affirmed their well-being. A few feet away the Lothorzord was leaning casually onto the hilt of its sword; Lothor was undoubtedly feeling at the height of his game right now, watching the spectacle before him with evil glee. Cam cursed him inwardly while his fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to keep up with his mind which was going at a thousand miles an hour, composing and discarding algorithm after algorithm to contain this virus. Nothing was working. The virus' origin was completely alien to him. He called up a screen that showed the schematics of the Megazord, and his forehead broke out into perspiration as he watched in morbid fascination how Lothor's virus program quickly mutated, attacking the Rangers' Zords' vital systems and rendering them useless with sickening speed. His eyes went back to the other screen where the mighty Megazord was on its back, helpless as a dead roach.

"Need more time…" Cam growled, frustration coalescing with worry in his voice.

But there was no more time. Lothor's Zord was only a few steps away from its prey, it was only a matter of seconds…

"Guys, get out! Now!" Cam yelled into the intercom. "Do you hear me? Eject! Immediately!"

"But Cam…." the Rangers yelled back, almost in unison.

"Rangers, you must retreat at once!" Sensei agreed. "Regroup at Ninja Ops. We will take things from there."

"But the Megazord…" Shane cried. He was cut off by Cam's brusque tone.

"The Megazord is lost, Shane," he barked into the intercom. "Now _get out!_"

"Isn't there any way to fix it, Cam?" Molly suddenly spoke up.

The technician turned to her, despondency lining his face. "The virus has completely corrupted the system. The only way to get the Zords running again is to wipe out the entire memory bank and re-install everything from my back-up. But there's no time." He took one of his hands off the keyboard only long enough to rake his fingers through his hair, then resumed his typing.

"How long?" Molly snapped and without looking up, Cam gave a curt shrug.

"Too long. Even if I typed like a madman and get just the vital systems going again it'll still be at least ten, maybe fifteen minutes." He shook his head as if to emphasize the futility of even considering attempting to try this plan.

Molly stared at the screen with narrowed eyes where the Lothorzord simply stood idly; inside, Lothor was obviously savoring every moment of his imminent victory over the Power Rangers' most valuable weapon. And that gave her an idea.

_Ten minutes…_

Sensei Watanabe was standing off to the side of Cam's keyboard, pondering the team's next step when Molly suddenly turned to him. The blonde Air ninja's face had taken on a determined expression. "Sensei, I think I have a plan that might work."

Sensei instinctively shook his furry head. "I cannot let you endanger yourself," her teacher replied automatically. "Lothor's Zord cannot be defeated without the Ranger's Zords…"

"I'm not planning on defeating Lothor's Zord, Sensei. But with the others' help I think we can distract it until Cam can get the Megazord back up and running." Molly wished she could elaborate on her plan, since Sensei was looking distinctly dubious, but they were swiftly running out of time, so she settled for pleading instead. "Sensei, please!"

Painfully aware that there was no time for lengthy deliberations, Sensei sighed and made an instantaneous decision. "All right." He turned toward the computer screen. "Rangers, you will regroup at the entrance of the Cave of Souls and meet Molly there. She will explain plan B to you."

Molly discarded her street clothes for her training uniform in one swift motion, gave her teacher a grateful nod and sprinted towards the exit.

From the speaker system came Shane's chagrined voice. "_WHAT?_ But Sensei…"

Molly heard neither his protest nor Sensei's answer; she had already streaked out the door.

Sensei looked after her. "I hope it's a good one," he mumbled.

_**A good plan…?**_

When she arrived at the foot of the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas a few seconds later, Molly was unprepared for the sheer amount of evil vibes permeating the entire area. She involuntarily staggered back a few steps, her hands at her temples, straining to clear her head of the psychic emanations. Then she looked up.

Lothor's Zord was huge, alien and thoroughly malignant. A wave of fear suddenly washed over her, and she immediately despised herself for her weakness. Weak and afraid she was no help to the trapped Wind and Thunder ninjas, Carmen, the teachers – not to mention the Rangers still inside their Zord. _Shane._

The thought of him poured new resolve into her, and the guttural sound of anger that rose from her throat pushed aside her fear. With a deep breath she surveyed the battlefield through calculating eyes. They should be here any moment now…

At that exact moment, five multi-colored streams of light shot from the downed Megazord, and an instant later, the Power Rangers team came to a halt directly in front of her. Shane's visor opened and his brown eyes bore into her. "What are you doing? You shouldn't even be here, this is way too dangerous!"

Molly stepped close to him, meeting his glare with fierce determination. "There's no time for macho behavior, Shane." She grasped his gloved hands firmly. "I have an idea to distract Lothor until Cam can get your Zord functioning again, but I need the _ninjas_ for it, not the Power Rangers." Shane's frown turned to puzzlement. But she just kept looking into his face and the expression on her features said _Do you trust me?_

The fire in her eyes was contagious and Shane felt his momentary anger evaporate; whatever plan she had, she needed their help. His gaze traveled over his team, then to the disabled Megazord before it settled back on her. At least she _had _a plan; that was more than he and the rest of the Rangers had.

At the edge of the clearing, the Lothorzord delivered a fierce kick to the Megazord's side which elicited not the slightest reaction from the Ranger's battle machine.

_That did it!_ Shane growled with helpless rage; Lothor's guffaw burned into him like a dose of salt rubbed onto an open wound. The Red Ranger raised his wrist. "All right, everyone. Power down!"

They demorphed, and instantly Molly felt five expectant pairs of eyes on her even before Shane said, "So what's your plan?"

But before Molly could elaborate on any details, the ground shook as Lothor's Zord kicked the unresponsive Megazord for the second time and raised its sword in the process.

Molly groaned inwardly. No more time for even an abbreviated explanation; action had to speak now, so she simply grabbed Dustin's hand and dragged the startled boy forward. "We need to unbalance this thing somehow," she called over her shoulder, hoping Dustin would catch the essence of the first portion of her plan. He didn't ask any questions and that she took as a good sign.

A few feet farther ahead, Molly pulled him down, kneeling on the ground with one knee, one hand on the mossy grass of the forest floor, the other one still firmly wrapped around Dustin's fingers. The Earth ninja mirrored her position.

"Clear your mind," Molly began. "You have to focus on nothing else but your powers. I'll be your booster, and together we'll be able to magnify our energies. And once we have enough force, we'll send this bastard back to where he came from."

Dustin looked a little too anxious for her liking. "But how will I know when I have enough power?" he asked.

"I'm not exactly sure." Molly cast a worried glance at the Lothorzord. "This is kind of my first time doing it like that, you know."

"Mine, too," Dustin said, and his boyish handsome face split into a mischievous grin. "But I'm glad my first experience is with you," he mumbled, speaking low enough for Shane not to overhear the remark. Molly grinned back at him before she let her eyes roam around the area once more. They were very close to the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas, and a disconcerting thought suddenly came to her mind. She squeezed Dustin's hand to get his attention.

"We need to get the magnitude just right; too much will freak out the entire wildlife on this mountain and might even cause a rock avalanche." She cast another look at the looming mountain in emphasis.

The brunet Earth ninja nodded, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

A few yards ahead of them the Lothorzord moved. Apparently Lothor had had enough gloating and decided to finally move in for the finishing touch. The alien Zord came inexorable closer towards the fallen Megazord, raising its sword triumphantly over its head for the death blow. Molly's eyes flickered nervously between Dustin and the two huge machines. _Come on, Dustin!_

Dustin had his eyes tightly shut, and through their clasped hands Molly could feel the power of his element building up inside him. Timing was essential, but she dared not rush him. They only had one shot; he needed to be centered.

Suddenly, the Earth ninja's eyes flew open. His elemental energy spiked. Molly moved in synchrony with him, their fists hitting the ground simultaneously as they shouted,

"POWER OF EARTH!"

The disturbed earth emitted a noise not unlike a groan. The ground shifted under them and with a mighty shudder the earth ruptured. The crack in the ground traveled fast, covering the few yards towards the Lothorzord in mere seconds. A heartbeat later, a chasm opened right between the alien machine's legs, growing wider with incredible speed. Lothor's Zord had no opportunity to move before the gap was wide enough for the huge battle machine to fit into. And for a moment the Zord wobbled unsteadily; but then it managed to steady itself, one of its enormous arms reaching out to grab hold of a nearby pine tree.

Molly winced and jumped up, unceremoniously grabbed Shane's hand and pulled him along, another few feet closer towards the Zord.

When she whirled around to face him, urgency was etched into her features.

"We need a boost to topple it," she cried, already lacing her fingers through his as he had seen her do with Dustin. "Center yourself, focus only on your powers. You need to be calm in order to build up the kind of force we need for this."

Shane nodded; he had a pretty good idea what Molly intended to do and, clasping her hand firmly in return, he centered himself, concentrating on the Air energy within him. And since he had more meditative experience than Dustin, it only took a few moments until he felt the power of his element coursing through him. He knew he had to be careful, though; too little momentum wouldn't have much effect on that huge machine, whereas too much force could catapult the Zord straight over the chasm and onto solid ground on the other side. It was a precarious balance, but Shane couldn't do much more than concentrate on his own output of energy and have faith in Molly to do the same.

They yelled out in perfect unison, "POWER OF AIR!" at the same time as they hurled two powerful gusts of wind towards their enemy. The two gusts combined, growing both in size and in intensity, and when it reached Lothor's Zord, it had the force of a small tornado. Hit squarely in the chest, the alien battle machine lost its grip on the tree branch, staggering backwards and Molly could have sworn she heard Lothor's enraged cry before his Zord tumbled down into the chasm with him in the cockpit. It did not disappear altogether, however. The crevice, being funnel-shaped by nature, turned out to be just a bit too narrow. It gave the Lothorzord enough leverage to hold onto the sides of each rim, and the robotic machine was already straining to hoist itself back out of the crack.

Molly's spirits plunged. _It didn't work! _

"Looks like we need to flush this piece of junk farther down into its hole." Molly's head snapped up at the sudden sound of Tori's voice next to her. The Water ninja had her fixed with an intense gaze, and Molly sensed her intentions right away. A small glimmer of hope re-ignited in her. _It might just work…_

Tori offered her hand. Clasping it tightly, Molly could at once feel the strength of the blonde girl's water power. That was good, for they would need a pretty big wave if this was going to work.

The remaining four ninjas watched anxiously as the two girls went through the by now familiar process of focusing and gathering their elemental energies. A moment later, the air all around them grew distinctly more humid until it was at a point where the moisture was almost tangible.

In the chasm, the Lothorzord was now bringing up one massive leg, ready to swing it over the edge, when suddenly the two girls raised their hands, palms facing the giant battle machine.

"POWER OF WATER!"

And all of a sudden, the moisture in the air was not only palpable, but very visible, rapidly forming into a towering wall of water that would have had every professional surfer salivating over it. The churning mass of liquid shot towards the Lothorzord, washing over the alien machine with the speed and power of a freight train and finally sending it tumbling down into the rift.

"All right!" Tori cheered. Around her, four more voices joined in the exultation. Molly, however, was quiet as she stared at the crevice, not yet entirely convinced of their success. Her feeling proved correct when only a moment later a metallic hand re-appeared from within the chasm, followed by another. And with laborious effort the Lothorzord pulled itself back up, metal fingers digging into the ground, raking up large chunks of earth in the process.

Behind Molly, the Rangers' cheers turned into chagrined exclamations.

"Stay down, you…" she hissed through clenched teeth as if through the power of her voice alone the huge machine would plummet back down the hole, getting sucked into the ground itself, sinking deeper and deeper, all the way down to hell where Satan would then claim it as his new favorite toy.

But at the edge of the chasm, the Lothorzord did not adhere to her whispered demand; instead it continued to climb, slowly but relentlessly. A cold sweat broke out over Molly's skin as she watched the battle machine ascend. The dark vibes resumed, so strong Molly could almost smell the psychic scent of evil.

The Lothorzord was not finished; not even close. On the contrary – the Zord, or the villain inside – was most likely more determined than ever now, not to mention royally pissed off.

"Here, let us take care of the rest."

Like the ninjas they were, the Bradley brothers had quietly appeared at her side. Hunter had spoken without breaking eye contact with his enemy's battle machine, but the determination in his blue eyes did little to boost Molly's confidence.

She looked up at him. "But I won't be able to help you, I don't know anything about Thunder powers."

Blake stepped into her line of vision, a mysterious little smile on his face. "That's ok, I don't think we'd need it anyways." He looked between her and his brother. "We've trained together all our lives and are pretty attuned to each other. We're also pretty damn strong together." He cast a glance over his shoulder towards the still struggling Lothorzord. "Besides, the Zord is wet and from the amount of water you girls have thrown at it, there's bound to be quite a bit at the bottom of that crack and that's gonna work for us, too. Right, bro?"

"Right," Hunter affirmed.

Molly's gaze flickered between the two Thunder ninjas and the sense of dogged resolution she perceived from both of them lifted her spirits somewhat. "Well, he owes you for wrecking your cockpit…" She felt her mouth form into a crooked grin. "Do unto him as he did unto you," she said to Hunter as the blond continued to glare up at the Lothorzord.

"Payback time," he hissed, then turned to Blake, blue eyes blazing with resolve. "Let's do this, bro."

The younger Bradley nodded, punched his fist into his palm once, then flexed his fingers before they laced their hands together.A moment later they were breathing in perfect synchrony, allof their concentration focused on each other and the gathering of their elemental powers. Molly could feel the harmony flowing between them and dared to let her hopes rise a bit higher.

Electricity crackled over the Thunders' joined hands, running over the exposed digits and into the leather of their fingerless gloves. The crackle and hum of electrical energy was rapidly building up around them all until it was so bone-marrow deep that Molly could feel the vibrations all the way into her teeth.

At Ninja Ops, Cam ceased his unrelenting typing for a brief moment to watch the spectacle on the screen where so far the Rangers - no, _the ninjas -_ were doing an incredible job at keeping Lothor at bay.

Now, as the first bolts of lightening zipped across the azure sky, Cam smiled. "This is going to be a weather phenomenon that meteorologists will be puzzling over for years to come," he mused before his attention went back to his keyboard.  
'Just a little bit longer, guys…'

**_Final Showdown… _**

There was none of the usual features that normally accompanied an imminent thunderstorm - no darkening of the sky, no distinct ozone scent in the air – nothing apart from one sudden, sharp clap of thunder that promptly made Molly and the rest of the team jump.

Sudden lightening backlit the few fluffy white clouds and a moment later the blue afternoon sky was repeatedly adorned with jagged beams of light. Those particular bolts did not strike the alien Zord, however; instead they seemed to be concentrated on hitting the bottom of the chasm itself. What _did_ hit Lothor's machine were the twin flashes of crimson and navy lightening that the Thunder ninjas now shot from their fists with cries of "POWER OF THUNDER!"

The water on the bottom of the crevice as well as the moisture that still clung to the robot was the perfect conductor, and as Blake and Hunter continued to discharge bolt after bolt of lightening, the electricity traveled over the battle machine's armored body, throwing off sparks in ever increasing intensity. The Lothorzord started to jerk and spasm and if it had been a living entity Molly would have sworn it was in pain.

Steam hissed from the outer hull, soon accompanied by acrid plumes of smoke as the Zord's electrical systems first overloaded, then fried altogether. Six pairs of eyes were riveted to the scene before them while Lothor's machine continued to convulse a few more times… – until, abruptly, all movement ceased.

For one long heartbeat, everything in the clearing was utterly silent. So silent that Molly could hear the blood rushing in her ears. Until Dustin let out an earsplitting bellow. "WOOHOO, ALL RIGHT!"

That broke the others' momentary paralysis and suddenly everyone erupted into bouts of cheering.

"Awesome!"

"We did it! YESSSS!"

"Dudes, that was _wicked_!"

Molly cheered right along with them.

Shane's morpher chirped in the middle off all the hoopla and he had to bring it up to his ear in order to hear Cam's voice.

"Excellent work, guys. And I've just finished getting the Megazord's primary systems back online. You're back in the game!"

Shane pumped his fist and gestured to his team. "Sweet! Now we can finish this sucker."

He turned to Molly, his dark eyes sparkling with joy, excitement – and something else. "Stay here, ok?" he said, squeezing her shoulder tenderly while his mouth curved into a warm smile.

The team quickly morphed and sped off towards their Megazord. Leaning against the trunk of an ancient oak, Molly watched as the Rangers brought their battle robot back onto its feet. The Megazord went straight for Lothor's machine, which was still wedged halfway inside the crevice, as immobile as the Megazord had been just a few moments ago. With a mighty heave, the Ranger's Zord pulled Lothor's contraption out of the hole, dumping it onto the ground unceremoniously. Faint sputtering and furious ranting sounded from the cockpit, indicating that its occupant was still very much alive and kicking. Probably his computer console.

The Rangers did not give Lothor a chance to recuperate. The Megazord retrieved its blade from where it had fallen on the ground and rammed it into the alien machine's chest with such a powerful thrust that it sliced through the armor like butter. Then it stepped back and simply watched.

Molly only dimly registered the purple streak of light that shot from the Lothorzord a split second before the huge machine exploded in a massive fireball of orange, red and yellow. A cry of exhilaration escaped her throat as she watched the bonfire of twisted, smelting metal. A moment later, however, her exclamation turned to a cry of alarm when Lothor suddenly stepped into her line of vision from behind the trunk of a large pine tree a mere few feet from her.

Eyes blazing, leather coat flapping in the breeze, he came towards her with long, determined strides, pointing a finger at her. "You! This is all your doing," the evil ninja barked. "And you will pay for this!"

Heart pounding in her ears, Molly couldn't wrench her gaze away from the furious villain.

Fight? _Yeah, right_. Streak? No. Lothor was a ninja, so surely he would know how to streak as well. Molly backed up, her wide-eyed gaze still fixed on Lothor's leather-wrapped face – until she tripped over a rock. With a yelp she fell onto her butt. Lothor moved swiftly, intending to seize the moment to snatch her up, when out of nowhere a huge steel blade suddenly sliced through the air, wedging itself between him and the blonde air ninja. Both Molly's and Lothor's astonished gazes went upwards where the Megazord now stood only a few yards away, looming over the evil space ninja.

"Yo, Lothor," Dustin yelled. "Don't you remember the rules? You touch the ground, you lose the round!"

Shane's voice was eerily calm as it joined Dustin's from the Megazord. "Let me refresh your memory on _the game_, Lothor. This is the part where you run away."

The evil space ninja tilted his masked face upwards some more to cast a silent, hateful glance at the Megazord before he turned his gaze back to Molly. His eyes were gleaming, his teeth bared, but he made no more move towards her. Instead he pointed a gloved finger at her and snarled, "You despicable kids might have won this round, but make no mistake, brat. I _will _find you, no matter where you are trying to hide from now on."

His eyes, glowing with contempt, sent a cold shiver down Molly's spine. He suddenly raised his arm, teleporting away in a bright flash of light.

Molly let out a ragged breath, struggling to regain her composure before she even made the attempt to get back up. She turned her head sharply at the sudden flash of red from the Megazord, but when Shane's arms came around her shoulders an instant later, she gratefully leaned into him. He didn't say anything, didn't patronize her with questions such as 'are you all right?' for he was obviously aware of how shaken up she was. He simply held her, and she was thankful for his regard.

"I'm fine," she finally said after a while, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice.

"Are you gonna be okay streaking to Ops? We have to take the Megazord back," he said.

Molly's eyes traveled over the still smoldering remains of the Lothorzord, then fixed on torn earth next to it. "Go ahead, I'll meet you there, but there's something I have to do first." She gave him an encouraging smile and through his open visor Shane looked at her with such affection that for a moment Molly thought the Red Ranger would lean towards her and…

"Come on, Shane, we've got to get this bucket back to the shop," Blake's voice droned over the Megazord's intercom. "Cam's getting impatient."

Shane blinked – and the moment was gone. A sheepish smile crossed his features as he gently squeezed her hand before he streaked back into his battle machine. Molly sighed and turned her attention to the matter at hand.

The gap in the ground was long and deep. She knelt on the ground close to the rim, already working on focusing her Earth energy once again. She was going to need a lot of it to patch this rift back together.

Suddenly, out of the periphery of her vision, she saw a flash of yellow light; an instant later Dustin was kneeling on the opposite side of the crevice, grinning at her. "Figured you could use a hand with the clean-up job here."

She gave him a smile of thanks but tilted her head into the direction of the retreating Megazord. Dustin waved his hand dismissively, thus answering her implied question.

"They don't need me to take the Megazord back to base," he said casually, already running his hand along the edge of the chasm. "So let's get to work on fixing what we broke, shall we?"

And while they worked, the sun turned into a fireball of blazing red, slowly sinking behind the Sacred Mountain of Lost Ninjas.

_TBC…_


	10. Chapter 10

When Dustin and Molly returned to Ninja Ops some time later, they found everyone of the team except Cam laid out horizontally on any surface that provided even a small amount of comfort. The mighty Power Rangers looked wiped out; apparently the Zord fight, combined with having to use a pretty extensive amount of their elemental powers, had dipped deeply into all of their strength reserves.

Hunter was spread-eagled on top of the command table, a pillow under his head, Tori and Blake had stretched out on the ground, supported by all of the floor cushions and Shane had apparently thrown his leader status around to get the couch.

Dustin promptly let out an exhausted groan and plopped down besides Tori, wrestling a pillow away from her. The Water ninja didn't even put up a fight – too weary to complain.

Shane looked up, gave Molly a drained smile and patted the sofa cushion next to him. Contrary to the rest of the ninjas, Molly felt strangely invigorated, but she wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to get close to Shane, so she sank into the cushions next to him and quite naturally rested her head on his shoulder. A moment later Sensei's pagoda mobile came wheeling into their midst. The Wind teacher stood at the edge of his miniature Zen garden, paws on his hips, looking over the sprawled-out teens.

"You have done very well, my students," he said with evident approval. "I am sincerely proud of all of you - as Rangers, but also as Wind and Thunder ninjas. You have managed to thwart Lothor yet again with great courage…" his gaze came to rest on Molly. "…and excellent teamwork."

Molly promptly blushed at the praise, but couldn't keep the goofy smile off her face as the six Rangers broke out into hoots and cheers, as much for themselves as for her. Shane's jubilant mood didn't last long, however, before his face suddenly clouded over. Sensei Watanabe gave the leader of his team a scrutinizing look, then jumped from the pagoda mobile on to the arm of the couch next to the Red Ranger.  
"What is troubling you, Shane?" he asked and Shane exhaled audibly.

"I was just thinking about what Lothor said back at that clearing. That was no empty threat he made towards Molly just before he fled. We have to protect her!" He cast a cursory glance at the blonde Air ninja next to him before he went on. "I mean, what if his next attempt is successful, Sensei? He now knows what kinds of powers she has. If he gets his hands on her, he might end up brainwashing her and turning her evil like he did with Blake and Hunter."

The two Thunder ninjas seemed to shrink a few inches at the mention of this particular dark episode of their past. Molly looked between the mismatched brothers and Shane with a puzzled frown, and the Red Ranger gave her his by now patented 'I'll explain later' look.

Sensei Watanabe nodded gravelly. "I wholeheartedly agree with you, Shane." To Molly he said, "We must find a safe location for you until we have managed to defeat Lothor once and for all."

"But where could she stay?" Tori chimed in. "Shane's parents will be back from their cruise in a few days, and with Blake and Hunter living at Ninja Ops, there's no room here…"

"I am aware of that, Tori," Sensei Watanabe stroked his whiskers absentmindedly – a gesture the Wind and Thunder ninjas had seen many times before and had come to associate with their teacher being in serious contemplation. He proved them right with his next words. "I have given the matter quite a bit of thought, and I believe I can supply a solution to the dilemma that might benefit you in more ways than one, Molly." The guinea pig was pacing the length of the sofa arm while talking. "I know of a place where you would not only be safe, but have an opportunity for very _specific _studies at the same time. I must warn you, however, that these studies would take a great amount of commitment, as well as quite a bit of courage."

"Sounds like the entrance exam at the Wind Academy," Molly deadpanned, trying to cover for the sudden, inexplicable wave of anxiety that rose within her. _Why were Sensei's words sending her heart into overdrive all of a sudden?_

Sensei continued to twirl his whiskers, his large, lucid eyes never leaving Molly's face. "Your mental powers are staggering, but they are like a diamond just pulled from the depths of the mine: rough, unpolished. Up until now you have not had the proper guidance to learn how to use your powers to their full potential." Sensei paused. "I thought I was an appropriate tutor to you until I realized that there _is_ in fact someone better suited than me."

Molly just blinked, waiting; the tiny teacher spread his paws. "Sensei Tanzin Xiang is the greatest craftsman I know when it comes to the art of mental refinement. He can teach you how to properly control and harness your powers. I should know; he was the one who taught me."

"Wow, that must've been ages ago," Dustin blurted out from his position on the floor where he had followed the conversation, then stopped himself with a sheepish look on his face, but it was already too late. Sensei turned towards the yellow Ranger.

"A very long time ago, yes, Dustin," the Wind teacher smiled benignly.

Dustin blushed. "I, uhm…didn't mean to imply…ah, you know…"

"That I've been '_around the block a few times' as_ you youngsters call it?" Sensei was still smiling. "Yes, I've been doing this for a long time, Dustin."

"Oh, and you're great at it, really! And you also have, ah,…aged very gracefully, Sensei," Dustin replied lamely in a vain effort to try to salvage at least some of the face he had just lost through the unintentional insult of his teacher. His gaze flickered to Shane. The Red Ranger sported a smirk and pointed first to Dustin's boot, then to his mouth. _Put your foot in it again, didn't ya? _

Dustin just threw his best friend a dark glare. Meanwhile, Molly shifted in her seat, a thoughtful look on her face. "I really appreciate all this, Sensei, but if I may ask…what does Sensei Xiang have to do with finding me a place to stay out of Lothor's reach?"

"Ah, yes, I was getting to that," Sensei nodded. "You see, Sensei Tanzin Xiang is the _Lharampa,_ the leader of a secluded monastery in the mountains outside of Lhasa."

"Lhasa?" Shane echoed, his brows creased in confusion. Sensei kept his somber gaze on Molly when he answered, "The capital city of Tibet."

Molly's face paled considerably. She made no reply, but the look on her face spoke for her.

For a long moment it was very quiet in Ninja Ops while Sensei let not only Molly but the rest of the ninjas, and especially Shane, digest the implication of his suggestion.

Molly cleared her throat. "Let me get this straight; you mean Tibet as in that little country that's sort of hanging off the side of China?"

Sensei nodded his head once, solemnly. Molly cast a quick glance at Shane, but the dismayed expression on his face made her quickly look away again.

Sensei had taken up his pacing on the sofa arm again. "Not only will you return from this voyage physically stronger," he elaborated, "but your mind will be more controlled, _and more powerful_, than it could ever be if you remained here."

Molly took a deep breath in an effort to cast off her initial shock. "How…how long would all this take, Sensei?"

The guinea pig shrugged. "That is hard to predict. It would depend on Sensei Xiang and on how in-depth he would want to train your mind. It might take up to a year." Sensei was studying his walking stick to give Molly time to process this latest bit of info.

Molly had leaned forward, elbows on her knees during Sensei's depiction of the monastery and its head teacher, but now she slumped back into the couch cushions, her eyes firmly fixed on nothing. "A year in a Tibetan monastery…" She chewed on her lower lip for a long moment before she met Sensei's eyes again. "Sensei, please don't get me wrong, I really appreciate you looking out for me, but this just seem so…far away.  
"And so long," she added.

The ninja teacher let out an empathetic sigh. "I know the distance is quite considerable, but in your situation…the farther, the better."

She was frightened by a voyage of that magnitude, not only in distance but also in substance, but Sensei's logic was unassailable. To be safely tucked away out of Lothor's reach and at the same time have the opportunity to train with a master how to finally balance the lifelong chaos in her head…Another feeling suddenly wormed its way into Molly's mind, one that made her heart pump just a little faster: Excitement.

But it faded as soon as it had swelled, for yet another thought followed on the path of the first; one that quickly put a damper on things. It must have shown on her face, for Sensei cocked his head at her expression, then jumped from the sofa arm onto Molly's knee. She barely flinched, marveling inwardly at how easy it had become for her in this short period of time to be able to hold a conversation with a talking guinea pig and see it as one of the most normal things to do. "Sensei, I am truly grateful for your help," she began, "and if I could, I would take you up on it in a heartbeat, believe me…"

"So why couldn't you?" the guinea pig wondered and Molly dropped her voice to a murmur.

"Because I don't think I can streak all the way to Tibet, and frankly, I don't have the money for a plane ticket."

Sensei Watanabe looked at her for a moment before he reached down to pat her knee. Molly didn't _think_ guinea pigs could look complacent, but her teacher managed to do just that. "Don't concern yourself with the monetary aspect of this voyage," he said. "The Academy might be gone, but the academy's bank accounts are still here."

Realizing what Sensei was implying, Molly was quick to shake her head. "Oh no, Sensei. I can't accept this, especially when I'm not sure when _or if_ I could ever repay you for the ticket…"

"You can _repay_ me in a different way upon your return," Sensei cut in, smiling mysteriously. "By accepting the position of Elemental Forces teacher at the Wind Academy."

Molly blinked. _Sensei Watanabe had just offered her a position at the Wind Academy! _

She stared at her teacher with a mixture of shock, awe and gratitude as the magnitude of his offer slowly seeped into her head.

"Sensei, I…" She wanted to thank him, hug him, cling to him and tell him that this was the most wonderful and terrifying offer anyone had ever made her, but instead she said, "I don't know what to say."

"_Yes_ would be a good start."

"But Sensei, how can I be a teacher when I can't even properly defend myself yet?" The uncertainty was so clearly audible in her voice that Sensei almost sighed out loud.

"A ninja teacher's task is not always to teach his students how to emerge victorious from physical confrontation. The mental aspect is just as important. And that's where you would be a great asset to the Wind Academy."

"He's right," Shane's voice suddenly injected. Molly turned to find him peering at her intently. She still sensed his sadness, but also a new determination emanating from him. "I think you'll make a great teacher once you come back from your little _vacation_."

A corner of her mouth lifted at his attempt at humor and she cast a glance around Ninja Ops where the others were either nodding their heads or making small exclamations of agreement. Their faith in her humbled her as well as helped her make up her mind.

She tried to speak, but the words came out as mere whispers. "I…thank you, Sensei."

Sensei inclined his head to her, accepting her consent, and said, "I will compose a message for Sensei Xiang, and Cam will e-mail it off this very day. We should have an answer by tomorrow, I hope."

Still somewhat in a daze, Molly nevertheless cocked her head. "You mean the monks in Tibet have e-mail?" she asked with an incredulous expression, and Sensei smiled regally.

"I guess it is safe to say that the wonders of modern technology have spread into every corner of the world." The guinea pig gave her knee one last pat before he somersaulted back onto his pagoda mobile where he grabbed a miniature-size pencil and some paper and began to jot down his message to the Tibetan teacher while all around him an awkward silence ensued among the assembled ninjas, the result of plain exhaustion combined with the still ongoing effort of digesting everything that had been said these past few minutes. It was Shane who finally broke the silence.

"Well, it's been kind of an eventful day," he announced as he rose from the couch, holding out his hand to pull her up. "Let's go home, ok? Sleep on all of this." Molly just nodded wearily. He put an arm around her shoulder, and that she was going to spend another night at his house went without saying. Her arm went around his waist seemingly of its own accord, and with a last wave to the tired Winds and Thunders they slowly made their way towards Ninja Ops' exit.

**_Dinner…_**

They went straight to Shane's house after leaving Ninja Ops, and Shane busied himself with raiding the refrigerator, piling the breakfast table high with sodas, bread, cheese, bologna and condiments while Molly used his phone to call first her mother, then her brother to let them know about her imminent travel plans.

Shane was preparing their sandwiches when she finally joined him at the table a little while later.

"So what did you tell them?" he inquired.

Molly popped the top of her soda can. "Basically just that I've had a short-notice opportunity to participate in an overseas exchange program through my high-school and that I'll be leaving soon, not to worry about me, yadda, yadda, yadda." She shrugged. "My mother probably won't retain much of what I told her, she sounded pretty spaced out. But I don't think Nick bought the whole story. I could tell he was skeptical." She saw Shane's thoughtful expression and waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry. It's not like he can check up on me, with him being stuck on base in Georgia and all. It'll be fine."

They attacked the food with the single-mindedness of the starving warriors they were.

They spoke little during their meal, but the stretched-out silences between them were not awkward. They simply enjoyed each other's company, and even with the downbeat knowledge of Molly's huge trip hanging over their head, Shane could feel that she was finally starting to relax around him more.

Out of an unspoken agreement, neither one of them mentioned the voyage, however; as if avoiding the topic could somehow delay Molly's inevitable departure.

The strain of the day's events hit them right after dinner. They barely had the energy to clear the table before collapsing onto the couch.

Recalling Lothor's threat, Shane gathered his remaining energy and heaved himself off the couch cushions to find some extra bedding for himself for the long night on the love seat; he had no intentions of letting Molly out of his sight tonight.

He returned a few minutes later only to find Molly sprawled out on the couch, still fully dressed – and dead asleep. Smiling, he carefully took off her glasses and draped a blanket over her. A strand of dark blond hair was hanging over her eye. Shane reached out and tenderly plucked it out of her face. His hand lingered, his fingertips grazing her cheek lightly before he withdrew them reluctantly.

_Her lips were so tantalizingly close…_

Shane knew he was staring, but for once he could, for Molly was out like a light. He caressed her with his eyes, burning the image of her sleeping face into his memory. He didn't know how much time they had before she had to leave for Tibet, but he was desperately hoping to spend as much quality time with her as possible until then. Before his mental eyes he saw them laughing over dinner, curling up together on the couch to watch movies, walking on the beach hand in hand…He shifted slightly as the thought of her in a bikini sent a sudden jolt of hormones through his body, and a small smile reshaped his face. _OK, got the hint, time to back off!_

His gaze went back to her face one more time – and he simply couldn't help himself. Almost out of its own volition, his body leaned forward, his lips brushing against hers in the slightest of butterfly kisses. Molly made a tiny noise and her head moved towards him a fraction of an inch. Worried that she might wake, Shane froze, holding his breath. She never did, and after a moment Shane slowly crept back toward the love seat and his temporary bedstead.

_**The next day…**_

The sand crunched slightly under Molly's boots as she walked solemnly along the stretch of beach at the Rangers' training cove the next day. Exhausted as they had been, Shane and she had both overslept and consequently had to scramble to make it to their respective high schools in time. There hadn't been much time for talking and they hastily agreed to meet at Ninja Ops after school. When Molly had arrived a few minutes ago, Shane was already waiting for her. Cam had greeted her with the words "Sensei Xiang has responded to our e-mail. He said he'd be honored to take you in as his new student."

Despite the fact that she was prepared for just that news, Cam's words nevertheless felt like a punch in the gut. Suddenly it was real - she was leaving; now it was only a question of _when_.

"That's…wonderful," she had managed to say, forcing a smile, but Shane had apparently seen through the mask and suggested a walk by the beach. A suggestion she was only too happy to agree to.

Out in the open, her inner turmoil seemed to abate somewhat. Shane's comforting presence right by her side was as solid as a rock, and Molly couldn't help but marvel at just how important he had become to her in the short amount of time they had known each other. But, no, simply 'important' didn't adequately describe the feelings she had for him anymore. It was part of it, true, but things had undeniably changed.

Affection? Definitely. Maybe even more…

The exact moment when that feeling had crept into her heart eluded her, but she knew it must have been there for some time now; she just hadn't really acknowledged it until now. Not a hard thing to do with all the distractions of the past few days.

And now, just when she was free to concentrate on it, life - or rather, Sensei, – was about to send her half a world away. Not fair!

Then, suddenly and thoroughly uninvited, a line of verse by Edgar Allan Poe she had read several years ago leapt into her mind.

_From childhood's hour I have not been as others were – I have not seen as others saw._

How true! And if the monks could teach her how to balance the chaos in her head, she knew she had to at least make a serious effort to learn from them what she could. She owed Sensei that.

Even if it meant leaving; her home, her familiar life…and Shane.

It took a big effort to swallow her frustration. Molly closed her eyes for a brief moment, heaving an inward sigh.

Shane, who had been silent beside her, now turned his head, taking in her thoughtful profile. "What's on your mind?"

Molly shook off her melancholy with a determined effort. "I just can't believe how much my life has changed in the past twenty-four hours," she said, looking out over the ocean where the sunlight reflected off the surface of the water like diamond dust.

Shane nodded. "I bet. And it's gonna change even more soon." They both knew that Cam was on the phone this very moment making her flight arrangements.

"All the things that have happened in the last few days…" Molly shook her head reminiscently, grinning. "Definitely doesn't get boring around here, does it?"

Shane chuckled politely. "No." He faced her, his dark eyes sparkling. "I certainly haven't been bored lately, but it doesn't have anything to do with evil space ninjas or fighting alien monsters." He grinned at the blush that promptly crept into Molly's cheeks. But then she surprised him when she suddenly reached out, lacing her fingers through his, and for a while they just walked silently along the beach, connected in more ways than just through their hands, until Molly spoke again.

"You know, I'm psyched about this trip, but terrified at the same time." She slowed her pace, then stopped altogether. "Weird, huh?"

Shane shrugged. "No. I would be, too."

"No, not you," Molly insisted, a wistful look in her eyes. "You're the leader of the Power Rangers. You are part of a legacy."

Shane frowned at her expression. "But so are you!"

"What, the legacy of being part of the most dysfunctional family in Blue Bay Harbor?" She snorted disdainfully. "Hardly something to be proud of."

"I meant the Wind Academy," Shane retorted gently. "You are a Wind ninja, and not the least bit less than that. That is something to be proud of, and don't let anybody tell you differently."

Molly gave him a crooked but grateful smile and watched Shane's own smirk grow mischievous.

"So, I guess the Red Ranger thing bumped me up a couple of notches on your popularity scale, huh?"

She almost laughed, but decided to go for the indignant look instead. "Not true!" she exclaimed. "I really liked you before I even knew you were a Power Ranger." The pretty pink blush from a few moments ago now crept back into her cheeks when she realized what she had just said out loud.

Shane just smiled. "Good. I was beginning to wonder whether the feeling was one-sided," he said with a wink and the blonde air ninja laughed gently. "No need to wonder."

Grinning, they regarded each other for a long moment, green orbs staring into brown and suddenly, something in Shane's demeanor changed. The glint in his eyes, together with the expression on his face, turned to serious and Molly's heart began to thunder in her chest at the touch of the calloused palm of his hand on her cheek. Then the Red Ranger leaned in and, with only a moments' hesitation, touched his lips to hers.

His kiss was soft and gentle – and more intoxicating than an entire case of Corona beer. She raised a shaky hand and placed it on his chest, not to push him away but to solidify their contact – as well as to reassure herself that this was actually happening.

Shane wrapped his arms around her waist, carefully pulling her closer, his heartbeat doubling the instant he felt her respond.

"Oh, that's cruel," she whispered when their mouths parted after a few long moments.

Shane cocked his head with a puzzled expression.

"You waiting all this time just to show me _now_ what I'll be missing for the next year," Molly elaborated, not making any effort of moving out of his embrace.

"Would you miss it?" he asked with a hopeful smile. "Really?"

Molly looked up into his dark eyes, only inches from her own. "Yeah, I would. But just to be sure that I'll remember it correctly, so I can miss it properly…I would need a repeat."

Shane was only too happy to comply. Molly's arms came up to encircle his neck, boldly seeking contact now. Their bodies melted together like wax, and Shane stifled a moan, his hold on Molly tightening a bit as his hand snuck around further to meet the small of her back. Although still chaste, their second kiss was longer and more urgent, and he reveled in the feel of her pressed against him, her scent, the feel and taste of her lips on his.

He was so wrapped up in their kiss that he didn't even pick up on the approaching presence. But Molly did, and reluctantly she broke off the kiss and turned. Cam was walking towards them, a solemn expression on his face; there was no way he could not have seen them kissing, but his face was carefully blank as he came closer. And with him came a dark wave of psychic vibes that set Molly instantly on edge. The Green Ranger came to a halt a few steps away from them. "Sorry to cut your walk short," he said diplomatically, "but I thought you might want to know…I just finished making your flight reservation." He said it quietly, but nevertheless, Molly's apprehension increased sharply. Yet she somehow managed to keep her voice steady while she asked, "So when am I leaving, then?"

The Asian man cleared his throat, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"Seven o'clock tonight."

Molly flinched as if having been physically struck. "S…so soon already?" she stammered, and Cam nodded, his gaze flickering between her pale face and Shane, who simply looked gut-punched.

"Afraid so. There are only two flights a month leaving from the West Coast, so it had to be either tonight or two weeks from now. And I don't think we should give Lothor a chance to regroup so he can make another attempt at getting to you, because next time he might just be successful." Cam averted his eyes, watching the breakers lapping onto shore instead. "I know it's sudden, but…" He ended his sentence with a helpless shrug.

Molly stared at the tips of her boots for a long moment before she nodded slowly. "I totally understand. Thank you, Cam."

After an awkward moment of silence, Cam nodded. Then, with a quick, knowing glance between the two Air ninjas, he retreated wordlessly, giving them the time they needed to come to terms with the new situation. Molly watched him go, the desolate feeling inside her spreading like wildfire now. Not the slightest breeze traveled across the beach, yet she shuddered anyways. Blindly she reached out, clutching Shane's hand like a lifeline.

She felt him shift next to her, and his inner pain bore into her mind, making her turn at last.

The weak smile he gave her didn't fool her for one second.

**_Epilogue…_**

The ride to the airport a few hours later was a cheerless affair. Subdued and quiet, Molly and Shane sat in the backseat of the taxi, her head resting on his shoulder. Shane kept his arm around her throughout the ride. Neither of them was in the mood for any kind of small talk, so they just drew silent comfort from each other's company until the taxi pulled into the departure terminal. Molly sighed at the sign of the Delta Airlines logo.

The goodbyes from the rest of the team back at Ninja Ops had been emotional, with lots of hugs and heartfelt _We'll miss you_'s. It had made leaving even harder.

Sensei had given her a commendatory scroll to take to Sensei Xiang as well as a print-out of the Tibetan teacher's e-mail with further instructions; a monk would be meeting her upon her arrival in Lhasa. From there on she was to go straight to the monastery to begin her studies. That was it; no further explanations as to what her studies would entail, no commitment as to how long she was to remain with Sensei Xiang. All this forced ignorance was chafing her nerves, but for once, her precognitive abilities were actually working _for_ her, for she also sensed that she was embarking on a fantastic journey from which she would return a changed person - just like Sensei had said. _If _she could pull it off, that was!

It would be lonely, though, and she knew without a doubt that the hardest thing these coming months would be missing Shane and her other newfound friends, for even though Molly knew she could never be part of the Power Rangers team, she nevertheless felt as if she had been accepted into the Air and Thunder ninja family.

The taxi came to a stop at the curb and Shane had barely paid the fare when a uniformed airport security guard was already waving the driver on, then pointed them towards the entrance doors of the departure terminal with an air of long-practiced, professional indifference, thus inadvertently robbing Molly of a last look over her home town.

Check-in had been quick; Molly's pathetic luggage consisted of only one bag of clothing and her backpack. The rest of her meager belongings were stored in the trunk of her Honda, parked in Shane's garage.

Even though they walked slowly, they still reached the departure gate way too fast and at the sight of the enormous Delta jumbo jet, the excitement Molly had felt yesterday at Ninja Ops suddenly dulled. Severely. She was pretty sure it would flare up again as she drew nearer to Tibet, but for now only a gray bleakness permeated her mind.

"Man, my first time on an airplane, and it's a twenty-two hour marathon flight halfway around the world," Molly murmured, staring out the huge panoramic window onto her waiting plane. Behind the airport buildings, the setting sun was pouring orange lava over the mountaintops. Boarding had already begun, but she lingered deliberately, stretching out their inevitable goodbye as long as possible. Shane came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and she covered the backs of his hands with hers, pulling them tighter around her waist. His touch sent such a shiver of _something_ through her that she had to close her eyes to keep them from tearing up. What she couldn't keep inside, however, was the deep sigh that seemed to come from her very core. _Damn you, Lothor!_

"You know, right about now I'm so ready to say 'the hell with Lothor and his threats' and change my ticket to the flight in two weeks. I don't want to leave here…leave you. I mean, we just…"  
"Yeah, I know," he murmured close to her ear, his voice as pained as hers. "But as much as I hate you leaving, I can't risk anything happening to you."

"But what about you? You're much more in jeopardy here."

She felt him give a slight shake of his head. "I can handle Lothor. Besides, I have help. The best help in the world."

"I know, but that won't keep me from worrying about you," she whispered, pulling his arms even closer around her and for a long, silent moment he simply held her. The words 'I'll be all right' came to his mind, but he refrained from saying them out loud, because to give her a bold reassurance like that would be the same as lying to her. Not that he didn't have every intention of defeating Lothor and his minions, but life simply couldn't be accurately foretold.

"**_Delta Airlines is now boarding all passengers for flight 1463 to Bejing with connecting service to_ _Lhasa. At this time, all passengers are requested to proceed to gate 10." _**

Molly's grip on Shane's hands tightened, but otherwise she made no move to adhere to the overhead announcement.

"By the way, feel free the use the car," she said suddenly.

Shane made a face. "Ah, I better not. I wouldn't know how to handle this rust bucket. Besides, I haven't driven a car since I was twelve."

At Molly's wry sideways look, Shane grinned. "Just kidding! I'll take care of it until you get back."

Still within their embrace, she turned around, facing him. "Speaking of 'until I get back'…" Molly looked momentarily uncomfortable. "I mean…now that I'm leaving and all and I don't know how long I'll be gone…" She cast him a quick glance before her gaze dropped down to her sneakers. "What I'm trying to say is, if you happen to meet someone…I don't want you to feel obligated to me or anything, so - no strings, okay?"

Shane's brows drew together. "Maybe I like strings," he said softly after a long moment, but Molly sensed that he was puzzled – and a bit hurt. But before she could say anything to soothe any ruffled feathers she suddenly felt his finger under her chin, tilting her head up and towards him. She met his eyes reluctantly, expecting a retort, but all he said was, "I'm not an _out of sight, out of mind_ kind of guy. However long it takes for you to get back, I'll be here." His fingers went from her chin to cup her cheek and Molly leaned into his palm.

"I'd like nothing more than that, but I'm just saying that in the meantime…"

"In the meantime I'll focus on keeping the monsters out of the city, kicking Lothor's butt, and getting the Wind and Thunder students back. That should keep me busy enough." He stifled any further comments from her with a firm kiss that they both savored more than they should have. When they finally moved their mouths apart again she continued to hold on to him in a sudden, almost overwhelming need for his closeness. Her lips traveled to the side of his neck and she felt his pulse jump in response. Molly squeezed her eyes shut, longing to stay just like this, wrapped in his arms forever, but time was something they had just run out of; she knew reality was about to intrude on this moment, for the plane to Tibet wasn't about to wait until she'd had drawn her fill of comfort from Shane. So she reluctantly broke out of his embrace.

"I'd like you to take care of something else for me as well," she said and reached under the collar of her simple cream-colored shirt, producing a thin leather cord from which hung a white, oddly-shaped pendant. It turned out to be the 'yang' part of a Chinese Yin-Yang symbol. He accepted the necklace solemnly.

"Let me guess, Carmen has the other part," he said and at Molly's nod he fixed her with an unblinking gaze. "I'll make sure she gets this once we got her and everyone else off Lothor's ship. I promise."

"I know," she whispered. "I have no doubt that you can free the students. If anyone can do it, it's you.

"And your team," she added almost as an afterthought.

He smiled, trying hard to make it look like he didn't have the slightest doubt. "We will get them back, you just watch."

"I wish I could," she sighed, "instead I'll be sitting on top of some mountain for God knows how long, waiting, not knowing what's happening over here – "

"Hey, I'll let you know exactly what's happening, okay!" he reassured her quickly. "We're not gonna lose touch just because you're a measly half-a-world away. And if you need me, then…"

"Oh no, don't even think about it," Molly quickly cut him off. "Long-distance streaks are extremely taxing and should…"

"…only be undertaken in dire emergencies or extreme circumstances," Shane finished her sentence. "'Streaking 101'. I remember. I was actually awake through that lesson."

He grinned at her, but when his hand came up to caress her cheek, his face was serious. "No, don't worry, I won't suddenly show up at the monastery doorstep; this spiritual journey is something you have to do on your own. But I'll always be here to listen. Like Sensei said, even the monks have e-mail, and I will answer every one of yours."

"I'm glad about that," Molly said sincerely, stepped forward and kissed him with gentle urgency. But this time the kiss also had an undercurrent of desire that, in light of their surroundings and the waiting plane, was so mistimed that it made Shane groan inwardly. They clung to each other, desperate to squeeze out a few more moments before…

"_**Last boarding call for passengers booked on Delta flight 1463 to Bejing with connecting service to Lhasa. All passengers are requested to proceed to gate 10 immediately!"**_

He hugged her tightly one more time, and the next word felt like the hardest he had ever said. "Go."

Molly's arms tightened around his waist for one more brief moment before she stepped back, slung her backpack over her shoulder and turned with downcast eyes towards the boarding bridge connecting the gate to the plane.

Shane stood rooted to the spot, his heart feeling like it was squeezed by a steel fist.

She was almost out of sight before he called to her. "Molly!"

She turned, her eyes slowly fixing on him.

_I love you. _"Good luck."

_I love you, too. _"Thanks."

Then she was gone.

He stayed until the plane had taxied down the runway, then watched it take off.

A profound loneliness settled over him, tightening his chest like a hangman's noose. He swallowed hard, but the large lump in his throat didn't go away. And neither did the ache in his heart – or in his chest, for that matter. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the yang pendant and fixed the thin leather cord around his neck. This somehow seemed to ease the pain just the slightest bit.

A year. He could wait a year. It would probably pass pretty fast, because he would be busy. Lothor would see to that for sure.

He didn't know how long he stared out the panoramic window and onto the now vacant runway before he finally turned and left, taking his heavy heart with him.

A few miles behind him, the forested mountains of Blue Bay Harbor were once again a picture of peacefulness.

**THE END**

_A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story. I appreciate all your feedback!  
__For those not really happy with the ending, I already have a sequel in the works appropriately named "Molly's Return", which will be R-rated for obvious reasons :)  
__I will post it as soon as I've come up with a suitable ending. And don't worry, it won't be as long as this one!  
__Thanks again, everyone! Hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing this.  
__Dany_


End file.
